BEIJING: China's economy shrank for the first time since at least 1992 in the first quarter, as the COVID-19 outbreak paralysed production and spending, raising pressure on authorities to do more to stop mounting job losses.
Gross domestic product (GDP) fell 6.8 per cent in January-March year-on-year, official data showed on Friday (Apr 17), larger than the 6.5 per cent decline forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll and reversing a 6 per cent expansion in the fourth quarter of last year.