China’s GDP sinks to 3% in 2022, second lowest in 50 years

Hit hard by the zero-Covid policy and slump in the real estate market, China's economy shrank to three per cent in 2022, registering its second lowest growth rate in 50 years in the world's second-largest economy, according to official data released here on Tuesday.

The annual GDP of China totalled 121.02 trillion yuan (USD 17.94 trillion) in 2022, falling below the 5.5 per cent official target, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.

The slow pace was blamed mainly on the strictly implemented zero-Covid policy leading to periodic lockdowns and the ruling Communist Party's crackdown on big industrial firms besides the lingering real estate crisis.

This is the slowest growth of the Chinese economy since the 2.3 per cent registered in GDP in 1974.

Significantly this year, China's GDP in terms of dollars declined from USD 18 trillion in 2021 to USD 17.94 trillion last year mainly due to a sharp rise of the dollar against RMB (the Chinese currency) in 2022.

In RMB terms, the Chinese economy last year posted 121.02 trillion yuan against the 2021 figure of 114.37 trillion yuan.

The GDP growth in the fourth quarter was 2.9 per cent year-on-year, compared with 3.9 per cent in the third quarter as it was hit hard by recurring covid lockdowns of various urban centres, including the top industrial and business hubs like Shanghai.