ECONOMY: China's GDP declines 1.6% in first half of 2020, up 3.2% in Q2

Beijing: China's economy declined 1.6 percent year on year in the first half of 2020, but grew by 3.2 percent in the second quarter, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday. Liu Aihua, spokeswoman of the NBS, released the data and explained the overall trend at a press conference in Beijing.

"China's epidemic prevention and control continues to improve and the resumption of work, production, business, and market have been accelerating. As a result, the economy shifted from slowing down to rising in the first half of 2020 with economic growth in the second quarter changing from negative to positive and main indicators showing recovering growth.The economy recovered gradually, the basic livelihood was ensured effectively, market expectation was generally good, and the overall social development was stable," she said.

The world's second-largest economy grew by 3.2 percent in April-June from a year earlier, reversing a 6.8-percent decline in the first quarter. "According to the preliminary estimates, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 45,661.4 billion yuan in the first half of 2020, a year-on-year decline of 1.6 percent at comparable prices. The GDP for the first quarter declined by 6.8 percent year on year and that for the second quarter grew by 3.2 percent. The value added of the primary industry was 2,605.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 0.9 percent; that of the secondary industry was 17,275.9 billion yuan, down by 1.9 percent; and that of the tertiary industry was 25,780.2 billion yuan, down by 1.6 percent," she said. 

The GDP in the second quarter grew by 11.5 percent quarter on quarter, Liu added.