Coronavirus: China’s slow economic reboot continues but power surge suggests light at the end of tunnel

Electricity generation rebounded in China in the first half of April, a key alternative indicator of economic activity identified by Premier Li Keqiang

However, other metrics show that while the economy is reopening, progress is slow and piecemeal

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Power generation climbed 1.2 per cent in the first 15 days of April, compared to a 4.6 per cent decline in March and a 6.8 per cent slump over the first quarter. Photo: AP

Published: 7:13pm, 20 Apr 2020Updated: 11:41pm, 20 Apr 2020

The lights are slowly coming back on for China’s economy after its coronavirus lockdown, with electricity generation and consumption both rising in the first part of April compared with a year earlier.

However, detailed analysis of other activities showed that China’s great reopening is patchy and piecemeal, a warning shot to Western economies now mulling restarts of their own.

Power generation climbed 1.2 per cent in the first 15 days of April, compared to a 4.6 per cent decline in March and a 6.8 per cent slump over the first quarter, during which the Chinese government reported the first official quarterly contraction since records began in 1992.

Power consumption rose by 1.5 per cent in the first 10 days of April, after a 4.2 per cent fall in March and a 10.1 per cent drop in February, according to an online press briefing by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s state planner, on Monday.

China’s electricity consumption has long been a closely-watched indicator since Premier Li Keqiang named it as one of three more trustworthy gauges of economic growth than official gross domestic product numbers, in a leaked conversation with a US official that took place in 2007.