China’s GDP grew by 0.4% in the second quarter, the slowest growth since the outbreak

In the spring, China’s economy grew at its slowest pace since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, exposing the impact of the country’s anti-epidemic policies. These policies continue to create widespread blockades and mass quarantines that have brought some business activities to a standstill.

The economy grew 0.4 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. That was the slowest growth since the first quarter of 2020, when China’s economy shrank for the first time in 28 years amid a virtual lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
But the 2020 recession will be short-lived.

The world was facing the devastating effects of the pandemic, but China’s economy recovered almost immediately, thanks to virus restrictions that kept infections and deaths to a minimum. However, the immediate outlook is not good. Even historically reliable economic indicators such as housing and manufacturing have become far less reliable.

China’s most recent slump occurred in April and May, when Shanghai, the country’s largest city, was shut down for nearly two months, sending ripples through the economy. Office buildings were closed and workers were ordered to stay home. Across the country, hundreds of millions of consumers are cooped up in their homes — leaving stores, restaurants and service providers open without customers.

Delays at Shanghai’s port, one of the busiest in the world, have stalled an already congested supply chain. A handful of factories managed to stay open, keeping workers inside overnight to prevent further spread of the virus.

Retail sales, a measure of consumer spending, fell 4.6 percent in April-June from a year earlier, the government said.