China GDP: economy grew by 2.9 per cent in fourth quarter, 3 per cent in 2022 second-lowest since 1976

China’s economy grew by 2.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022, compared with a year earlier, down from the 3.9 per cent growth seen in the third quarter

This brought the economic growth rate for 2022 to 3 per cent, below the ‘around 5.5 per cent’ target which had long been seen as unattainable due to the coronavirus

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

02:24

China records second-lowest economic growth figure in almost 50 years after Covid-ravaged 2022

Andrew MullenandOrange Wang

Published: 10:01am, 17 Jan 2023Updated: 8:26pm, 17 Jan 2023

China’s economy grew by 2.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, bringing the full-year growth rate to 3 per cent in 2022, data released on Tuesday showed.

The fourth quarter growth was down from 3.9 per cent growth in the third quarter, but above expectations from Chinese data provider Wind, which had predicted 2.1 per cent growth in the fourth quarter of last year.

China had set an economic growth target of “around 5.5 per cent” for last year, but this had long been seen as unattainable due to the impact of the coronavirus.

For the full year, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 121 trillion yuan (US$18 trillion) from 114.37 trillion yuan in 2021.

The annual growth figure was above expectations from Wind, which had predicted 2.9 per cent growth in 2022.

But China’s full-year growth figure was only slightly better than the 2.2 per cent growth seen in 2020, which was the lowest since 1976.