Can China find zero-Covid wriggle room to beat GDP slowdown?

Months of lockdowns and frequent mass testing are depleting local coffers but there are no signs of a shift from pandemic controls

Authorities are caught in a balancing act as they try to control outbreaks and keep economic growth going

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The costs of frequent mass Covid-19 testing, which is free to the public, is among the pressures facing local government coffers in China. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:00pm, 27 May 2022Updated: 6:09pm, 27 May 2022

After a difficult two months, Beijing online food distributor Zhang Jian is struggling to make ends meet, affected not just by the Omicron outbreak in his home city but also Shanghai’s lockdown.

Zhang, who imports frozen foods, has an empty warehouse in Shanghai, where shipping has been unable to arrive, while a drink he distributes as a general agent is stocked in Tianjin but cannot be delivered because of travel controls.

“We are struggling right now and we cannot really do anything but wait patiently for such restrictions to be lifted. I am looking forward to a normal environment for us to travel for business, have access to warehouses and deliver goods as scheduled,” he said.

“We have office rent and salaries to pay. It’s not about making money now but making ends meet.”

Zhang’s troubles are repeated across the country and highlight China’s dilemma of how to stick with its strict zero-Covid policy while keeping economic development going.

The impact on the economy is so worrying Premier Li Keqiang has urged lower ranking bureaucrats to “complete the task of economic and social development” while sticking to strict pandemic prevention and control measures.