China's economy shows V-shaped recovery

China's economy grew 2.3 percent in 2020 and exceeded 100 trillion yuan (HK119.45 trillion) for the first time ever, official data showed.

The country's GDP expanded 6.5 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, driving the whole year's economic growth to 2.3 percent, and beating forecasts, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed yesterday.

This came as retail spending shrank. Highlighting the weakness in consumption, retail sales fell 3.9 percent last year, marking the first contraction since 1968, records from NBS showed.

Growth in retail sales in December missed analyst forecasts and eased to 4.6 percent from November's 5.0 percent, as sales of garments, cosmetics, telecoms, and autos slowed.

Meanwhile, economists said China's economic growth in the second half this year may be slower due to a stronger base in 2020.

In other news, China's 2020 pork output fell 3.3 percent from a year earlier to 41.13 million tonnes after plunging 21 percent in 2019, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The incurable hog disease African swine fever swept across the world's top pork producer from mid-2018 onwards, reducing the breeding stock by an estimated 60 percent a year later. But strong policy support and incentives unleashed in the third quarter of 2019 have triggered huge investment in the rebuilding of the herd, with more than 200 billion yuan (HK$238.90 billion) pumped into new farms.