BEIJING, March 5. /TASS/. A slowdown in the global economy and the negative effects of the crisis in Ukraine have led to a decline in China's GDP growth rate, according to a government report on the implementation of the socio-economic development plan, published on Sunday at the opening of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress (the supreme legislative body).
"Global economic growth has slowed, the external environment has become increasingly difficult due to the Ukrainian crisis, and problems such as the global imbalance of grain and energy supply and demand, high inflation and increased protectionism have become intertwined," the document said.
"Under such extremely difficult and harsh conditions, the actual growth of the economy and some of the indicators related to the rate of economic growth differed to some extent from what had been planned," the report points out.
"The regulation of macroeconomic policy in the major economies of the world has had a spillover effect, which has had a continuous negative impact on the development of our country," the document pointed out.
Slowdown in GDP growth
In 2022, China's GDP growth fell to 3%, well below the target of about 5.5%, which was among the lowest figures in 50 years. According to experts, this was due to negative effects of the anti-COVID restrictions and a series of lockdowns in major cities and industrial centers of the country.
If 2020 is not taken into consideration, when GDP growth fell to 2.2% because of the start of the pandemic, last year's 3% was the lowest since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976.
At the end of 2022, China's GDP was 121.02 trillion yuan (about $18 trillion at the time of publication). At the end of 2021, the country's GDP growth rate reached 8.1%.
GDP was 121.02 trillion yuan (about $18 trillion at the exchange rate at the time of publication). At the end of 2021 the GDP growth rate was 8.1%.
China's GDP growth target for 2022 is set at about 5%.