China’s GDP grew 7.9% in the second quarter

Shanghai, China, Jul 15 (EFE).- China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2021, according to official data published Thursday.

The data, released by the National Statistics Office, represents a slowdown with respect to the 18.3 percent advance registered in the first three months of the year, and is only slightly below that expected by analysts, who predicted a growth of about 8 percent.

However, at the same time, it confirms China’s economic recovery trend after controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused the first drop in GDP since 1976 (-6.8 percent) in the first quarter of 2020.

That collapse also explains the spectacular increase in the indicator during the first quarter of 2021 and puts into context the fall registered between April and June, since the comparative base of the second quarter of 2020 (+ 3.2 percent) was not so conducive to replicating double-digit growth.

The superpower expanded 12.7 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2021.

In nominal terms, China’s total wealth reached 53.22 trillion yuan ($ 8.23 trillion) at the end of June.

The office said “the national economy has witnessed how the inertia of firm and sustained growth was consolidated” this year despite the national and international environment continuing to be “complicated and changing.”

After not setting a growth target in 2020, China recovered its usual forecasts and set this target at more than 6 percent according to the office, below what analysts expected.

Global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund placed their growth forecasts for China at 8.4 percent during the global 2021.

In 2020, after the collapse of the first quarter, China’s economy grew by 2.3 percent, according to official data. EFE

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