Preliminary data from the national statistics bureau (NBS) showed that China’s economy grew by 3.2% in the second quarter of 2020, recovering strongly from a deep contraction of 6.8% in the prior quarter. The actual growth beat some analysts’ expectations by a small margin, but it remained the second-weakest expansion since 1992 when the NBS began releasing the data. For the first half of the year, China’s GDP fell 1.6% year-on-year.
In March through April, China lifted most of its coronavirus-related restrictions, allowing businesses to resume and hence, boosting the economy. Crude oil consumption and imports have recovered strongly, with imports touching an all-time high in June. Industrial production increased by 4.4% in the second quarter, partially offsetting the 8.4% decline in the first quarter. Over the same period, industrial capacity utilisation rose by 7.1 percentage points to 74.4%.
Investment continued to decline, albeit at a slower pace. Fixed-asset investment contracted 3.1% in the January-June period, although this was an improvement from a 13% fall in January-March. The infrastructure sector declined 17% year-on-year in the second quarter. Meanwhile, the real estate grew by 1.9% in the first half of the year, after decreasing by 7.7% in the first quarter.
