tirsdag 17. januar 2023

Covid: China 2022 economic growth hit by coronavirus restrictions

China's economy grew last year at the second slowest rate in almost half a century - in a sign of how the country's strict coronavirus regulations have affected businesses. Official figures show the gross domestic product (GDP) of the world's second largest economy rose 3% in 2022. That is way below the government's target of 5.5% but better than most economists had forecast.

Last month Beijing abruptly lifted its strict zero-Covid policy. The policy had a major impact on the country's economic activity last year but the sudden relaxation of the rules has led to a jump in Covid cases that threatens to also drag on growth in the early part of this year. Other than at the start of the pandemic in 2020, when full-year GDP expanded by 2.2%, last year's economic growth was the weakest since 1976, when the founder of the People's Republic of China Chairman Mao Zedong died.