Beijing. The Chinese economy has largely overcome the Corona crisis and the new year has started with record growth. As the Beijing Bureau of Statistics announced on Friday, the second-largest economy grew by 18.3 percent in the first three months compared to the first quarter of the previous year. It’s the biggest jump since the quarterly evaluation started well 30 years ago.
The economy is also recovering thanks to severe coronavirus restrictions
The unusually strong growth is explained by the fact that the Chinese economy collapsed last spring due to the Corona pandemic. At that time, the most populous country in the world has almost stopped for several weeks.
The Chinese government has pursued a “zero Covid strategy”: strict lockdowns and strict restrictions on entry mean that – apart from smaller domestic outbreaks – very few cases of Coronavirus have occurred since a year now. Since then, the economy has been on a recovery path.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates the economy could grow another 8.1 percent this year. The Chinese government was more cautious and set its official growth target at the just-completed People’s Congress in Beijing at a value of “more than 6 percent”.
Many epidemic products come from China
Strong foreign trade, in particular, has recently driven the Chinese economy. China’s factories have been in full swing to export medical goods such as corona tests and face masks around the world. New laptops and other home office equipment often come from China.
As in the global financial crisis in 2008, China is helping to give new impetus to the global economy. German automakers and several other companies operating in the Chinese market have recently managed to look to make huge profits there.