The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 2.3% in 2020 compared to a year earlier, according to government statistics released Monday.
It is China’s slowest annual growth rate in decades – not since 1976, when the country had a worse year, when GDP fell 1.6% in a period of social and economic turmoil.
But during a year in which a crippling pandemic plunged the world’s major economies into recession, China clearly came out on top. Expansion has also exceeded expectations: the International Monetary Fund, for example, has predicted that China’s economy will grow by 1.9% in 2020. It is the only major global economy the IMF expects to grow at all.
The pace of recovery is also accelerating. China’s economy grew 6.5 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, according to the government. This is faster than the 4.9% increase in the third quarter.
This is an evolving story and will be updated.