China’s GDP growth for the first three quarters of 2020 has entered positive territory despite the initial economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on 19 October indicates that China’s GDP for the first three quarters was 72.2786 trillion yuan, for inflation-adjusted YoY growth of 0.7%.
NBS data further indicates that for the first three quarters of 2020 China’s fixed asset investment and imports and exports of goods both shifted from negative to positive territory, with growth of 0.8% and 0.7% respectively.
The Chinese economy saw GDP growth of 4.9% in the third quarter itself, as compared to 3.2% in the second quarter, and -6.8% in the first quarter, when lockdowns were first imposed to stymie the spread of COVID-19.
“The economy maintained the momentum of its V-shaped recovery in the third quarter, with GDP growth accelerating 1.7 percentage points compared to the preceding quarter,” said Wang Qing (王青), chief macro-economic analyst at Golden Credit Rating International, to state-owned media.
Liu Xiangdong (刘向东), an economist from the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, said that he expects fourth quarter growth to climb to 5% due to the positive impacts of central government policies, with full year economic growth to hover at between 2 and 2.5%.
A recent report from the International Monetary Fund sees 1.9% GDP growth for China in 2020, as compared to a global contraction of 4.4%.
