The arrival of coronavirus has derailed China’s long-running economic expansionary wave. After 40 years of consecutive growth, the country has seen its economy grind to a halt. At the China’s National People’s Congress in May, which had been delayed three months due to the pandemic, premier Li Keqiang declined to provide a gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2020, citing the uncertainty in global markets.
Despite the reluctance around forecasting, the levels of decline were still being made public. The National Bureau of Statistics announced in April that first-quarter GDP had dropped 6.8% year-on-year. The last time a year-on-year fall was reported was in 1976. While the global markets are cited as the cause for concern, China is also facing significant uncertainty domestically.
