China GDP grows 2.3% in 2020, slowest in more than four decades

BEIJING, China (Update 1, 11:08 a.m.) — China's economy grew at the slowest pace in more than four decades last year despite a rebound after the country's coronavirus outbreak, official data showed Monday.

The 2.3 percent expansion is the lowest figure since the Chinese economy embarked on major reforms in the 1970s.

The National Bureau of Statistics said last year was a "grave and complex environment both at home and abroad" with the pandemic having a "huge impact".

The figure was a marked slowdown from 2019's growth of 6.1 percent -- itself already the lowest in decades -- hit by weak domestic demand and trade tensions.

But it is better than that forecast by an AFP poll of analysts from 13 financial institutions, who predicted a 2.0 percent expansion.

Covid-19, which has ravaged the world economy, first emerged in central China in late 2019. But the world's second-largest economy also became the first to bounce back after imposing strict lockdowns and virus control measures.

It is expected to be the only major world economy clocking positive 2020 growth.

In the last three months of 2020, China's economic rebound continued with a better-than-expected 6.5 percent growth on-year, a sustained improvement since the second quarter.

Industrial production grew 2.8 percent on-year for 2020, slowing further from previous years.

Retail sales, whose recovery has lagged behind that of industrial activity, shrank 3.9 percent for the full year.