BEIJING – China’s GDP grew at the slowest pace in more than four decades in 2020, official data showed Monday, but it was still expected to be the only major economy to grow at all after a strong rebound from the coronavirus crisis.
Covid-19, which has ravaged the world economy, first emerged in central China in late 2019. But the world’s second-largest economy also became the first to bounce back after imposing strict lockdowns and virus control measures.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said last year was a “grave and complex environment both at home and abroad” with the pandemic having a “huge impact”.
The 2.3 percent expansion in 2020 was a marked slowdown from 2019’s revised growth of 6.0 percent — itself already the lowest…
