China provinces show strong signs of second quarter economic rebound after coronavirus

Name: Capital of China’s Xinjiang region placed under lockdown as coronavirus returns
Uploaded: 2020-07-20T10:56:27.000Z
Duration: 1 min 26 s
Description: Capital of China’s Xinjiang region placed under lockdown as coronavirus returns

Eleven of China’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions showed strong economic improvement in the first half of the year compared to the first quarter

Six of 11 reported their economies returned to year-on-year growth in the first six months of 2020 after contracting in the first quarter

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Guangdong, which includes the city of Shenzhen (pictured), recorded a contraction in growth of 2.5 per cent in the first half of the year from a year ago, according to official figures. Photo: Xinhua

Orange Wang

Published: 6:56pm, 20 Jul 2020Updated: 11:05pm, 20 Jul 2020

China’s provinces showed positive signs of growth in the first half of the year, offering fresh evidence of an economic recovery in the second quarter amid ongoing risks from the coronavirus pandemic and increasing geopolitical uncertainty.

While a number of large provincial economies contracted in the first half of the year compared to a year earlier, the size of the declines narrowed sharply compared to the first quarter, implying positive growth in the April-June period. Provincial governments do not publish separate second quarter data.

China's economy grew a stronger-than-expected 3.2 per cent overall in the second quarter compared to a year earlier, after a 6.8 per cent contraction in the first quarter. For the first half of the year, the economy contracted 1.6 per cent.

Guangdong, the country’s largest provincial economy that includes the cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, recorded a contraction in growth of 2.5 per cent in the first half of the year from a year ago, according to figures released by the provincial statistics bureau on Saturday.

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Capital of China’s Xinjiang region placed under lockdown as coronavirus returns

However, the rate of decline narrowed from a loss of 6.7 per cent in the first quarter, showing an improvement in the regional economy between April and June.