BEIJING–China’s economy in the second quarter expanded 3.2% from a year earlier, rebounding from a historic coronavirus-induced contraction in the first three months of the year, as Beijing managed to largely bring the virus under control and restore economic activity.
Following the historic 6.8% on-year economic contraction in the first quarter, China is now the first of the major world economies to post positive growth after the Covid-19 pandemic began to ravage the global economy earlier this year.
The result beat a median forecast of a 2.6% increase expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
China’s gross domestic product in the second quarter rose 11.5% from the first quarter, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics Thursday. In the first half, the Chinese economy dropped 1.6% from a year earlier.
China’s policy makers omitted setting a growth target for 2020 after the economy ground to a near halt in the first quarter due to the coronavirus outbreak. Chinese leaders pledged to stabilize the job market and create more jobs instead this year.
China’s urban surveyed jobless rate dropped to 5.7% in June, compared with 5.9% in May.
