Lockdown halts powerful economic recovery

CHINA - Report 29 Apr 2022 by FAN Gang and Chunyang Wang

The COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai and some other cities since late March have halted the strong economic recovery. In Q1, GDP was up 4.8% y/y, up 0.8 pps from Q4 2021, but 0.2 pps lower than in Q1 2020. Industrial output rose 6.5% in Q1, up 2.6 ppts from Q4, but down 1 pps from January-February. Investment rose 9.3% y/y in Q1, up 4.4 pps from 2021, but 2.9 pps lower than in January-February.

In March, overall PMI, manufacturing PMI, and non-manufacturing business activity PMI were 48.8%, 49.5% and 48.4% respectively, all falling steeply from the previous month, demonstrating that the economic environment has been shrinking in all dimensions.

In Q1, retail sales of consumption goods were up 3.3% y/y, down 9.2, 0.2 and 3.4 pps from 2021, this January and February respectively. In March, consumption fell -3.5% y/y; restaurant income fell -16.4% y/y, its first negative turn after more than one year.

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