China's Economy Hit Hard by Return of COVID-19

The virus has returned to China, which formerly boasted a strong defence against the COVID-19 pandemic. According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, consumer spending and manufacturing output fell last month, while infrastructure investment, which Beijing has touted as a way to boost GDP this year, stalled.

According to the Policy Research Group (POREG), the headline unemployment rate has risen to 6.1 percent, a two-year high, demonstrating the economic consequences of the country's tightest pandemic measures. Since the pandemic first broke out a few years ago, China's stimulus has primarily focused on the supply side, according to the research tank.

As China grapples with the virus's massive economic impact, Premier Li Keqiang has asked for a faster speed and more efforts in the implementation of macro measures. Li, who is also a member of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, made the statements last week while chairing a symposium on development stabilisation in Yunnan Province.

He emphasised measures to stabilise the growth of market entities and shore up employment and people's basic livelihoods, according to the Xinhua news agency. Li emphasised the significance of confidence, citing China's more than 150 million market entities, high resilience, and typically steady prices, noting that the new wave of local COVID-19 resurgences and changes in the international scenario has put further downward pressure on the economy.