BEIJING: China’s economy has slumped since 1992 in the first quarter, as the novel coronavirus outbreak paralyzed the country’s production and spending.
This has raised pressure on authorities to work more to stop mounting job losses, according to international media reports.
The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell some 6.8 percent in January-March year-on-year, according to the official data, which is bigger than the 6.5-percent decline forecast by observers.
This is also the first in the country’s since 1992 when official quarterly GDP records started.
The country’s industrial output was down 1.1 percent in March from a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the fixed-asset investment shrunk to 16.1 percent in January-March this year.
The country’s stock markets climbed notwithstanding the dismal GDP data.
On Friday morning, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.89 percent. Likewise, the blue-chip benchmark CSI 300 increased 1.23 percent.
Likewise, the GDP fell 9.8 percent in the first quarter of the year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
Meanwhile, the country’s urban jobless rate was put at 5.9 percent in March 2020, which is down from 6.2 percent in February the same year.
According to a data, China’s retail sales decreased by 15.8 percent in March this year, which is worse than an expected 10 percent decline. (With inputs from Agencies)
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