BEIJING (AFP): China became the first major economy to report quarterly growth after lifting the coronavirus restrictions and factories and stores reopened.
According to details, China’s Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 3.2 percent in the three months to the end of June, compared with the same period last year.
Growth reported on Thursday for the three months ending in June was a dramatic improvement over the previous quarter’s 6.8 percent contraction — China’s worst performance since the mid-1960s.
“The national economy shifted from slowing down to rising in the first half of 2020,” China’s National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.
China – where the coronavirus first emerged – was the first economy to shut down and the first to start the drawn-out process of recovery in March.
Despite the growth, China’s stock fell by the most in more than five months today (Thursday) after data showed a mixed recovery with strength in the country’s industrial sector balanced against continued weakness in consumption. The CSI 300 of Shanghai- and Shenzhen-listed stocks closed down 4.8 percent in its biggest drop since early February.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Chinese government eased some curbs on domestic tourism after China reported no new locally acquired infections in nine days.
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