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BEIJING: China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in more than four decades last year despite a rebound after the country’s coronavirus outbreak, official data showed Monday.
The 2.3 percent expansion is the lowest figure since the Chinese economy embarked on major reforms in the 1970s. The National Bureau of Statistics said last year was a “grave and complex environment both at home and abroad” with the pandemic having a “huge impact”.
The figure was a marked slowdown from 2019’s growth of 6.1 percent — itself already the lowest in decades — hit by weak domestic demand and trade tensions.
COVID-19, which has ravaged the world economy, first emerged in central China in late 2019. The world’s second-largest economy also became the first to bounce back after imposing strict lockdowns and virus control measures.
China is expected to be the only major world economy clocking positive 2020 growth. In the last three months of 2020, China’s economic rebound continued with a better-than-expected 6.5 percent growth on-year, a sustained improvement since the second quarter.
Industrial production grew 2.8 percent on-year for 2020, slowing further from previous years. Retail sales, whose recovery has lagged behind that of industrial activity, shrank 3.9 percent for the full year.
Oil prices fell on Monday, extending losses that last week ended a rally driven by production cuts and strong Chinese demand, with the market’s recovery outlook being called into question as coronavirus infections rise.
Brent crude fell 45 cents, or nearly 1%, to $54.65 a barrel by 0207 GMT, after dropping 2.3% on Friday. US oil was down by 43 cents, also nearly 1%, at $51.93 a barrel, having declined 2.3% in the previous trading session.
In China, where new COVID-19 infections have been rising, more than 28 million people are in lockdown as Beijing tries to avoid a resurgence of the coronavirus in the country where it was first discovered.