China's economy contracts 6.8 pc in first quarter of 2020

China's economy contracted 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 compared to a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

China's economy contracted 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 compared to a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. The world's second-largest economy has been hit by drastic measures taken to contain the spread of coronavirus which has infected over two million people worldwide.

"According to the preliminary estimates, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 20,650.4 billion yuan (about $3 trillion) in the first quarter of 2020, a year-on-year decrease of 6.8 percent at comparable prices," the bureau said in a report. This is the first time that China's economy has shrunk since 1976 and is worse for a single quarter since the country started publishing such figures in 1992, according to CNN.

The Chinese mainland reported more than 80,000 cases of coronavirus and over 3,000 deaths. Extensive lockdowns were put in place to curb the spread of virus, which originated in China's Wuhan province late last year, bringing the country to a standstill. (ANI)