Data released this morning showed that the Chinese economy contracted for the first time since the end of 1992 when the Statistics Bureau began measuring GDP. GDP shrank by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020 on an annual basis with the second largest global economy being strongly affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Analysts had expected a 6.5% shrinkage after China recorded growth of 6% in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Fixed business investment fell by 16.1%, industrial production by 8.4% and retail sales by 19%, while consumer goods sales fell by 15.8% in March and online sales increased by 5.9%.
Although the economy contracted at a strong pace in the first quarter of the year, markets remain optimistic about China’s economic activity in the coming period. This given the return of the production wheel in the second quarter after China overcame the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic in many cities, especially in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic
