China’s economy contracts for first time in nearly 50 years, as GDP plunges 6.8pc after coronavirus crisis

China’s economic system contracted for the to start with time in approximately 5 a long time past quarter as drastic measures to have the coronavirus pandemic brought action to a standstill, official facts displays.

Gross domestic product or service shrank six.8 per cent among January and March, when compared with the similar interval a yr before, according to figures unveiled on Friday by China’s National Bureau of Data.

It was the to start with destructive progress noted by the world’s 2nd-most significant economic system considering the fact that it commenced logging quarterly facts in the early 1990s, and the worst functionality considering the fact that before its current market reforms started in 1979.

The figure marks a sharp fall from China’s six per cent expansion in the fourth quarter of past yr, but was marginally better than some economists experienced predicted.

Analysts in China and overseas have long harboured uncertainties about the accuracy of the official facts, even so, suspecting that the quantities are massaged for political causes.