BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s economic activity slowed markedly in April as COVID-19 lockdowns weighed heavily on consumption, industrial production and employment, fueling fears of a contraction of the country’s economy in the second quarter.
Partial or strict lockdowns were imposed in dozens of Chinese cities in March and April, including Shanghai, the country’s commercial hub, forcing workers and consumers to stay home and greatly disrupting supply chains.
Retail sales fell 11.1% year on year last month, their biggest decline since March 2020, official statistics showed on Monday. Analysts on average had expected a decline of 6.1% after a drop of 3.5% in March.
With the impact of health restrictions on supply chains and distribution, industrial production declined in April by 2.9% year on year, marking a sharp slowdown after growing 5% in March, when the consensus stood at +0.4%.
This is the largest decline in industrial production since February 2020.
(Report Stella Qiu, Ellen Zhang and Kevin Yao; French version Jean Terzian)
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