China has announced a strong bounce back from the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Beijing reported 4.9% year-on-year growth between July and September.
Although growth in the period is slightly lower than the 5.2% widely anticipated by economists, the strong recovery follows a 6.8 % shrink in the country’s economy in the first quarter – the first time it has contracted since 1992, when China’s quarterly GDP data began being recorded.
Beijing implemented easing and other stimulus measures in response, and by the second quarter China’s growth had reached 3.2%.
The country also reported positive September trade figures, with exports growing by 9.9% and imports growing by 13.2% year-on-year.
The figures suggest China, the first country to suffer from Covid-19, has also become the first major economy to recover.
They come as economists warn that Europe’s economy could hit a double-dip recession as a result of the Covid-19 second wave.
The UK officially went into recession for the first time in 11 years this summer, after the economy shrank by an unprecedented 20.4% between April and June, compared with the first three months of the year.
