China’s economy expanding faster than prior to the Covid 19 pandemic
China’s gross domestic product has reportedly expanded 6.5% in the fourth quarter of 2020, beating forecasts and making the country one of the few in the world to register positive growth for the year.
A news report in the local media has noted that year-on-year GDP growth for the final quarter beat expectations.
According to official data released on Monday, the Chinese economy had expanded 2.3% over the course of the full year as industrial production had continued to drive the country’s recovery.
The new data underlined a rapid turnaround in the world’s second-largest economy, which declined in early 2020 for the first time in more than four decades after authorities imposed an extensive lockdown to stem the pandemic’s initial outbreak, a news report in the Daily News has stated.
In the fourth quarter, year-on-year growth was the highest of any quarter since 2018, and China will be the only one of the world’s biggest economies that did not shrink last year, the news report has said.
China’s benchmark CSI 300 index of Shanghai and Shenzhen listed stocks rose 1.1 per cent following the data release, while equities markets in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region dropped.
Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics, has reportedly stated the economy “recovered steadily” last year but cautioned that the “changing epidemic dynamics and external environment pose a multitude of uncertainties,” and that the “foundation for economic recovery is yet to be consolidated.”
China’s rebound from Covid-19 has been powered by higher industrial production, which benefited from state support and added 7.1% in the fourth quarter, compared with 5.8 per cent in the previous quarter.
OSL take:
The expansion recorded by China’s economy heralds good news to Sri Lanka since the island plays a prominent role in the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. Sri Lanka and China enjoy strong bilateral and trade ties that are to be further strengthened by a free trade agreement that is currently under negotiation. China is a development partner of Sri Lanka with large scale investments in the island’s development programme. Foreign businesses/investors interested in doing business with China could explore the possibility of setting up base in Sri Lanka to engage with China. Local businesses could also confidently look at forming partnerships/joint ventures with Chinese companies.
| Article Code : | VBS/AT/20210121/Z_7 |