China’s economy slows sharply as "zero Covid" pummels activityMay 16, 2022 - 13:26 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - China’s economy slowed sharply in April as Beijing’s ultra-strict “dynamic zero Covid” strategy dragged consumption and industrial production to their lowest levels since early 2020, Al Jazeera reports. The deteriorating economic picture comes as authorities have imposed full or partial lockdowns on dozens of Chinese cities, including the financial capital Shanghai, where more than 25 million residents have been under severe restrictions since late March. With millions of Chinese confined to their homes, retail sales last month dropped 11.1 percent compared with the previous year, sharply worse than March’s 3.5 percent contraction, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday. The figure marked the biggest decline since March 2020. As lockdowns forced factories to suspend operations and disrupted supply chains, industrial production fell 2.9 percent from a year earlier, compared with a 5 percent gain in March, marking the largest decline since February 2020. China’s job market also took a hit, with the nationwide jobless rate rising to 6.1 percent in April, up from 5.8 percent, marking the highest rate since February 2020. The poor figures pour doubt on Beijing being able to meet its ambitious target of 5.5 percent growth in 2022 and are likely to fuel fears of the world’s second-largest economy contracting this quarter. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |