China achieves 2.3% growth in pandemic year
The Asian giant is the only major economy that will remain in positive territory, boosted by its effective management of the coronavirus crisis.
China grew by 6.5% in the last quarter of 2020, which completes the series with an annual mark of 2.3%. In light of the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Asian giant's GDP can be seen as the glass: half empty or half full. Either by registering its lowest result in almost half a century or by being the only major economy to remain in positive territory despite the health crisis.
Against the pandemic backdrop, however, an optimistic reading prevails. China has managed to turn around a year that began with the virus threatening to become its own Chernobyl. After a historic slump of 6.8% in the first quarter, China escaped recession and has been accelerating with a rebound of 3.2% in the second quarter and 4.9% in the third quarter. So much so that it is already expanding faster than before the disaster: the fourth quarter of 2019 recorded 6% versus 6.5% today.
"China is expected to become the only major economy in the world to achieve positive growth this year," said Ning Jizhe, director of the NBS. Likewise, he assured that GDP "has recovered its normal level". The result is also higher than the 2.11GDP3T forecast by the Bloomberg survey of experts. Recent estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggest that China will continue to gain ground, raising its pace to 7.9% in 2021.
The key to China's economic performance is, above all, its effective management of the virus. As a result, it has enabled the Asian country to continue as normal with minimal interruptions. Despite the exhaustive public action, China is currently experiencing one of its most virulent outbreaks, located in the province of Hebei, which surrounds the capital, Beijing. Last week it recorded its first covid fatality since May. 718 cases remain active and the authorities have ordered the confinement of 23 million people.
