May 14, 2022

The surge of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 has exerted short-term downward pressure on the Chinese economy since March, but the sound fundamentals of economy in the long term will not change, a senior official from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said.

The Chinese economy is off to a steady start this year, with its GDP up 4.8 percent year on year in the first quarter and inflation at a relatively low level, which has been quite good and ranked among the top of major economies, according to Sheng Laiyun, deputy director of the NBS.

Hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, major economic indicators fell significantly in March, while leading economic indicators such as PMI continued to weaken in April, indicating that the downward pressure on the economy has further increased.

Read more: