Despite the corona pandemic, the Chinese economy has grown significantly in the third quarter of this year. The gross domestic product rose by 4.9 percent in that period compared to a year ago. This is evident from figures released today in Beijing. China is expected to be the only G20 economy that can show growth rates this year. In contrast, according to the International Monetary Fund, the world economy will contract by 4.4 percent, the strongest downturn since the Great Depression.
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Chinese growth is lower than economists predicted, but above the 3.2 percent recorded in the second quarter. Retail sales were up 3.3 percent in September, industrial production grew 6.9 percent in the month and investment growth accelerated to 0.8 percent in the nine months to the end of the quarter.
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Second largest economy in the world
Despite the increase being lower than expected, production grew by 0.7 percent this year so far. That means that the world’s second-largest economy has regained in all areas what it lost in the first half of the year. In the first quarter, the country posted negative economic growth of 6.8 percent as a result of the corona measures that were taken.
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The Chinese economy remains resilient with great potential
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China’s central bank governor Yi Gang said on Sunday that annual growth of about 2 percent is forecast. “The Chinese economy remains resilient with great potential. A continued recovery is expected, which will also benefit the global recovery, ”he said.
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The recovery was supported by an aggressive approach to the coronavirus, which allowed factories to reopen quickly and benefit from a global rush for medical devices and home-working technology.
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Skeptical
On microblogging site Weibo, internet users were rather skeptical about the positive economic figures, The Guardian reports. One commented that she and a number of colleagues had received New Year bonuses, which are usually given in January / February in the run-up to the Chinese Spring Festival or Chinese New Year.
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“How could the numbers not look good?” someone claimed on Weibo. “The price of everything is higher,” said another. “As always, I don’t believe them,” one user concluded.
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