China’s economy recovered further from Covid-19 in the third quarter and grew at an annualized rate of 4.9%, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
The world’s second-largest economy reported third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth rose 4.9% from a year ago. That brings growth for the first three quarters of 2020 to 0.7% compared to the same period of 2019.
Chinese economists expected GDP growth of 5.2% in the third quarter, according to an average of estimates compiled by Wind Information, a financial information database. Slower recovery in Chinese consumption remained a drag, while uncertainty persisted about the ability of other countries to control the coronavirus pandemic and return to economic growth.
Retail sales in China rose 3.3% in September, for a 0.9% increase in the third quarter. For the first nine months of the year, China’s retail sales contracted 7.2%. During those three quarters, online sales of goods rose 15.3% from a year ago, accounting for 24.3% of total retail sales.
Additionally, China’s unemployment rate edged lower in September to 5.4%. The rate remains below a record 6.2% hit in February during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in China. About 3.8 million fewer migrant workers from rural parts of China had returned to their jobs in cities by the end of September, versus the same period last year, a decline of 2.1%.
Official figures showed China’s gross domestic product contracted 6.8% in the first three months of the year, when more than half the country shut down temporarily in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus. GDP grew 3.2% in the second quarter.
The International Monetary Fund expects China will be the only major world economy to grow this year at a forecasted annualized rate of 1.9%.
