The story of China’s growth continues to amaze everyone, its rebound from an economy stalling virus is astounding. Many nations including the largest economic powerhouse is still grappling with the pandemic trying to balance between saving the economy and its people, even with vaccines a certain clarity is still in question. But one of Asia’s largest nation in terms of population and economy saw its economy grow 18.3 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2021, a dichotomy in ways governments are tackling the situation.
China can attribute its growth to a strong domestic and foreign demands powered by recovery from a low base in early 2020 when COVID-19 completely stalled the world’s second largest economy.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed the gross domestic product (GDP) reaching 24.93 trillion yuan (about US 3.82 trillion) in Q1. The double-digit growth puts the average Q1 growth of 2020 and 2021 at 5 percent from the 2019 level.
In the first three months, China saw a steady industrial production rebound, improvement in market sales, recovery in fixed-asset investment, and noticeable momentum in foreign trade of goods. All this while the borders are still closed and countries fighting for shipping slots.
In comparison the the Chinese economy registered a 6.8-percent contraction for the same period of 2020 when the it went into lockdown at the height of the Coronavirus spread in Wuhan. Thanks to resolute and effective virus control, the global growth engine regained its footing with a “V-shaped” comeback to attain three consecutive quarters of rebound last year (3.2 percent in Q2, 4.9 percent in Q3 and 6.5 percent in Q4).
