I don't see any surprise here it is expected, once you make decision that life preservation is more important than economy growth. China growth will be throttled for a while but that is calculated risk no need to be obsessive with GDP growth. The most important thing is ensuring food supply, jobs and social stability. It will be challenged for a while but ultimately growth will come back. China could, at best, achieve 3 per cent growth in 2020, or around half of the original target, which would still be “a remarkable achievement”, he added.
Coronavirus: China seen pursuing lower 2020 economic growth target after historic first quarter contraction
- China’s economy contracted 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, the first contraction since quarterly records began in 1992
- Hubei province reported a 39.2 per cent economic contraction in the first quarter of this year as lockdown measures took a toll
in Beijing
Published: 5:15pm, 21 Apr, 2020
Independent economists agree it would be unrealistic for Beijing to pursue its original target of 6 per cent growth this year, given the International Monetary Fund has projected growth of only 1.2 per cent. Photo: AFP
China will forgo its original economic growth target for 2020, believed to have been around 6 per cent, and instead pursue a much lower goal after the national economy contracted 6.8 per cent in the first quarter, according to Chinese economists and researchers.
China’s new gross domestic product (GDP) target – if there is one at all – will be significantly lower than the one agreed to at the end of last year, but never officially announced, as Beijing is now more worried about stabilising
rather than expanding the economy due to the
they said.
The central Chinese province of Hubei, the original epicentre of the outbreak, announced on Tuesday that its economy shrank by 39.2 per cent in the first quarter from a year ago as draconian lockdown measures in the city froze economic activities, underlining the economic fallout from the virus.
