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BEIJING (AP) — China’s manufacturing contracted for the third month in a row in December, the biggest drop since early 2020. The country is battling her COVID-19 surge across the country after suddenly easing epidemic measures.
The monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 47.0 from 48.0 in November, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday. A number less than 50 indicates a reduction in activity.
The contraction was the largest since February 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic just started.
The weakening comes as China suddenly eased COVID-19 restrictions earlier this month after years of attempts to eradicate the virus. facing a global pandemic, authorities have stopped releasing daily tallies of COVID-19 infections.
Several other sub-indices, including large companies, manufacturing market production and demand also declined compared to November.
“Some surveyed enterprises reported that due to the impact of the epidemic, logistics and transportation staff shortages and delivery delays,” said Zhao Qinghe, a senior economist at the Bureau of Statistics, in a public analysis of data in December. Stated.
Sectors including construction expanded in December, along with sub-indexes measuring industries such as air transportation, telecommunications, and finance and financial services, according to bureau data.
The Purchasing Managers Index for China’s non-manufacturing sector also fell to 41.6 in December from 46.7 in November.
China’s economic growth is likely to fall short of its 5.5% target this year, with forecasters cutting annual growth to 3%, likely the second slowest since at least the 1980s. .
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