China is the only major world economy that managed to grow during 2020, the year of Covid-19. But according to Allan Sørensen, chief economist at Dansk Industri (DI), the growth was at a record low and the Corona crisis can be seen clearly in the Chinese economy.
Figures from China’s statistical bureau show that China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 2.3 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year.
GNP is an expression of the size of a country’s economy and is the most widely used key figure to measure it. Rises or falls show whether the economy is growing or shrinking.
Allan Sørensen says in a press release that a growth of 2.3 percent is not very impressive by Chinese standards. Over the past 20 years, the Chinese economy has grown by an average of nine percent a year.
He further explains that the growth in 2020 is the lowest in China since 1976, but the Chinese still managed to turn a historically large decline in early 2020 into growth in the last three quarters. The Chinese have had a strong comeback and end the year as a whole with progress. China is one of the very few countries that achieved economic progress in 2020 and the Chinese economy is expected to grow by eight to nine percent in 2021.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the growth is cementing China’s place as the dominant economy in Asia.
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