China’s Economy Grows 3 Percent in 2022
The Chinese economy expanded 2.9 percent during the final quarter, slowing from 3.9 percent growth during the July-September period, National Bureau of Statistics figures showed.
Excluding 2020, the Chinese economy in 2022 had its weakest performance since 1976, the final year of Mao Zedong’s three-decade rule.
China’s government had set a goal of 5.5 percent growth, before dropping the target from official announcements amid worsening economic conditions.
Still, the fourth-quarter growth came significantly ahead of some economists’ expectations.
China’s strict “zero-COVID” pandemic policy weighed heavily on the world’s second-largest economy towards the end of last year, with lockdowns hobbling economic activity in major industrial centres, including Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Beijing made an abrupt shift away from the strategy last month after unprecedented mass protests across the country.
China earlier this month reopened its borders following three years of international isolation, after earlier scrapping most of its restrictions. The country’s reopening has been followed by a surge in infections that has overwhelmed hospitals, crematoriums and morgues.
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