NEWSROOM.CO.NZ – JANUARY 25, 2021
Dr Murat Ungor – Dr Murat Ungor is a senior lecturer in the University of Otago’s Department of Economics.
The Communist Party of China prepares to mark its 100th birthday this year with massive pomp and ceremony, and the cream on the cake is an economy forecast to grow at twice the rate of the rest of the world.
The Chinese economy grew by 2.3 per cent to 101.6 trillion yuan in 2020 – its lowest growth rate since 1978 – according to statistics released this week by the National Bureau of Statistics of China.
The superpower recorded a historic slump in the first quarter of 2020, first to be hit as Covid-19 began to disrupt the global economy, and GDP declined by 6.8 per cent year on year.
To put this in context, it plunged further during in those three months than during the 2009 global financial crisis.
The Chinese economy returned to growth in the second quarter of 2020 when the year-on-year GDP went up by 3.2 percent.
With the help of the second quarter growth, China avoided experiencing two consecutive periods of negative growth – an indicator of entering a recession. China was the only major country recording positive growth in the second quarter of 2020.
Its economic growth continued in the third quarter of 2020 when it recorded year-on-year GDP growth of 4.9 percent.
Finally, the Chinese economy grew by 6.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared to a year ago. This is an impressive figure, higher than the pre-pandemic growth rates.
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