China’s economy slowed in March, seeing a contraction in both domestic consumption and factories activities as Beijing’s sweeping COVID-19 lockdowns takes their toll across the country, official data shows.
The figures came after financial hub Shanghai has for weeks been gripped by an unprecedented city-wide lockdown, and hundreds of millions subject to stay-at-home orders around the country. Yet analysts say China’s economy is likely to worsen as tough lockdowns drag on.
April 18 data from the National Bureau of Statistics show China’s first-quarter growth perked up as gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 4.8 percent from a year earlier, beating analysts’ expectations and picking up from the 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter.
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