The coronavirus-hit Chinese economy will grow at its slowest rate since the fina...
- The coronavirus-hit Chinese economy will grow at its slowest rate since the financial crisis in the current quarter, according to a Reuters poll of economists who said the downturn will be short-lived if the outbreak is contained.
That drop was expected to drag down the full-year growth rate in 2020 to 5.5% from 6.1% in 2019, its weakest since at least 1990 when comparable records began. The coronavirus was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan - a nerve center in the global supply chain with a population of just under 11 million - and so far has claimed over 1,300 lives in China. That outstrips fatalities from the SARS outbreak in 2002-03 which killed 774 people worldwide.
The enforced shutdown started during the Lunar New Year - usually the busiest time for most services businesses and according to most economists will accelerate an already-noticeable downturn before the outbreak. “I think the virus will be under control by April. However, in the worst-case scenario, growth may fall to 2-3% in the first quarter and to 5% in 2020,” said Bingnan Ye, senior macroeconomic analyst at Bank of China International in Beijing.
A woman wears a face masks as she travels on a high-speed train near Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, China, as the country is hit by an outbreak of a new coronavirus, January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
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