China’s economy skids as virus immobilises factory, consumer sectors

Sign of the times: An employee wearing a face mask works on a car seat assembly line at Yanfeng Adient factory in Shanghai, China. China’s factory production plunged at the sharpest pace in three decades in the first two months of the year due to Covid-19. — Reuters

BEIJING: China’s factory production plunged at the sharpest pace in three decades in the first two months of the year as the fast-spreading coronavirus and strict containment severely disrupted the world’s second largest economy.

Urban investment and retail sales also fell sharply and for the first time on record, fanning views China’s economy probably stalled or even shrank in the first quarter and that authorities would need to do more to resuscitate activity.