LONODN (Bloomberg) --
China’s key economic data this week will likely show a marked weakening in growth at the end of last year after the Covid Zero policy was abruptly ended, although attention is quickly shifting to a strong rebound in 2023.
A surge in infections in December took a toll on the economy, with official data Tuesday likely to show a slump in activity to levels comparable to when Shanghai was locked down in the spring last year.
That means gross domestic product growth in the final quarter of 2022 likely slowed to 1.6%, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists — less than half the pace recorded in the third quarter.
Full-year GDP probably grew just 2.7% last year, according to the survey, well below the government’s ambitious goal of “around 5.5%” and slightly above the 2.2% increase posted in 2020, when the pandemic first hit.
Much of China’s economy was bruised by Covid control measures in 2022, from full-scale lockdowns in places like Shanghai to restrictions that made it difficult for locals to travel and factories to move their goods when infections spiked.