| China has posted its second-lowest annual growth rate in half a century as COVID-19 restrictions crippled the world’s second-largest economy in the final quarter of last year,China posted a 3 per cent increase in GDP growth for the 2022 calendar year, with growth at 2.9 per cent in the fourth quarter.
The data beat economists’ forecasts for 2.8 per cent annual growth and 1.8 per cent growth in the fourth quarter.Still, growth in the fourth quarter was half the 3.9 per cent recorded in the third quarter last year, confirming the growing threat that citywide lockdowns and other restrictions were having on the economy as the government struggled to contain the virus.
The growth figures were the second-worst since China first embraced free markets and opened up its economy in the 1970s. Growth in the first year of the pandemic, when China became the first country in the world to lock down its cities, was worse at 2.3 per cent.
The weak data had already been priced in by global financial markets. Economists are predicting a rebound in China’s economy in the second half of 2023 now that COVID-19 restrictions have been scrapped, and the Chinese government has signalled more business-friendly policies, including easing restrictions on property developers.
China is battling the biggest outbreak since the start of the pandemic, with some provinces saying 90 per cent of people have been infected. China has so far only reported 60,000 COVID-19 deaths since the restrictions were abolished on December 7.Connect with