COVID-19 resurgence won't derail China's strong economic recovery: media

BEIJING - The latest resurgence of sporadic COVID-19 cases across China will not derail the country's strong economic recovery, said a recent opinion piece in the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

The resurgence of infections as well as heightened public attention ahead of the upcoming Spring Festival are "more likely to create a mere hiccup in economic recovery than a derailment," said the article published Wednesday.

Noting that China is the only major economy with positive growth in the pandemic-ravaged year of 2020, the article said the country's economic rebound last year was not only "impressive" in pace, but also "broader in base."

"Industrial production, investment and exports all recorded solid gains," it noted.

The article predicted that "consumption is still expected to recover and become the dominant economic driver this year, as the labor market continues to improve and discretionary savings fall."

According to China's Ministry of Transport, this year's Spring Festival, which falls on Feb 12, is expected to witness decreased passenger flows as the country tightens measures to curb the COVID-19 resurgence.

"Rising social restrictions will weigh on holiday spending. But with many migrant workers staying put for the Lunar New Year, work could resume quickly," the SCMP pointed out in the article.

China's National Bureau of Statistics recently reported that the country's gross domestic product registered a year-on-year growth rate of 2.3 percent in 2020.

Meanwhile, Gita Gopinath, chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), also said on Tuesday at a virtual press conference that China had returned to the pre-pandemic projected level in the fourth quarter of 2020, "well ahead of" other major economies.

According to the latest update to its World Economic Outlook, the IMF projected that China's economy will grow by 8.1 percent in 2021, amid a partial and uneven global recovery.