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China Posts First Ever GDP Contraction After Coronavirus
April 16, 2020
China’s economy shrank 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020 as compared to a year prior. This is the first year-over-year contraction since the country began releasing quarterly numbers in 1992. Economists were closely watching the numbers as a foreshadowing of the economic slowdown that will hit the U.S. and the rest of the world.
The good news is that the pullback was less pronounced than the 8.3% forecasted by economists who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. Retail sales took the biggest hit, falling 16% from a year earlier.