Topline
China’s economy surged in the first two months of 2021 over the previous year, when the country was in the depths of the slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, as Beijing prepares to pare back its fiscal stimulus measures.
Workers work on a production line at Smith Enterprises in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu province, … [+]
Key Facts
Industrial production in China in January and February grew 35.1% from the previous year, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics said Monday, and 16.9% over the first two months of 2019.
Retail sales grew 33.8% in the first two months of the year over the beginning of 2020, the Chinese government said, and 6.4% over the first two months of 2019.
Investment in fixed assets and imports and exports also jumped by more than 30% over the previous year.
China’s unemployment rate, on the other hand, climbed slightly from 5.2% in December to 5.4% in January and 5.5% in February.
Big Number
7.8%. That’s how much the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is expecting China’s economy to grow this year, up from 2.3% growth in 2020.
Surprising Fact
China surpassed the United States as the top destination for foreign direct investment for the first time ever in 2020.
Key Background
China is one of the first countries in the world to begin withdrawing its extra support for the economy (which amounted to some $738 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund) in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The country set its growth target at more than 6% for 2021, a modest goal given widespread expectations that the economy will grow faster than that in the year ahead. “It will easily be met,” Simon Baptist, chief economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC last week. “It’s sort of a target that you have when you don’t really want to have a target.” The United States, on the other hand, just enacted a new $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
Further Reading
U.S. Economy Will Recover Twice As Fast Thanks To $1.9 Trillion Stimulus And Quick Vaccine Rollout (Forbes)
‘The Recession Is Effectively Over’: Analysts Are Expecting ‘Rip-Roaring’ Growth This Year, But Hurdles Remain (Forbes)
‘Not At All Likely’ U.S. Will Reach Maximum Employment This Year: Fed Chair Powell (Forbes)
China Passes U.S. As No. 1 Destination For Foreign Investment As Coronavirus Upends Global Economy (Forbes)
