China’s Economy Contracts in First Half of 2020, but Bounces Back as Pandemic Eases
Shaoyan Sun and Guofeng Wu - 9 September 2020
According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) decreased year-on-year by 1.6% in the first half year of 2020. The decrease was largely caused by the unprecedented contraction in the first quarter, which saw a year-on-year decrease rate of 6.8%. This was the first decline in China’s GDP since 1976. However, with the resumption of production, China’s economy began a strong recovery in the second quarter with a year-on-year growth rate of 3.2%. As shown in Figure 1, all sectors including the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors saw positive growth in the second quarter from their decrease in the first quarter.