But the consumers whose spending propels China’s economic growth are still afraid of losing their jobs or catching the virus. Consumption is a smaller share of China’s economy than in the United States and other high-income countries but accounted for 80% of last year’s growth. With factories closed and some 800 million people told to stay home, consumer spending shrank by 23.7 percent from a year earlier and manufacturing fell 13.5 percent. That is dragging down global growth forecasts. That kept experienced workers in place and supported consumer spending.

Source: The Standard April 16, 2020 06:45 UTC