China’s coronavirus recovery lays bare sharp regional economic disparity
- China’s recovery from the coronavirus remains uneven in a number of respects, including between provinces
- Beijing must address the gulf between prosperous coastal regions and relatively undeveloped west, experts say
China’s uneven regional economic development has been turbocharged by the coronavirus pandemic, despite a broad-based national recovery, representing a long-term challenge for the nation’s leaders.
The economy has bounced back from draconian lockdowns early in the year, led by industrial production and infrastructure investment, with consumer spending slowly catching up.
But only 14 of China’s 31 provincial-level jurisdictions recorded industrial profit growth in the first eight months of the year, according to the data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
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The best performing provinces are concentrated on the east coast, with industrial profits in Guangdong and Jiangsu, the two largest provincial economies in China, growing at 1.2 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively.