Workers at a medical-supply factory in China’s Hebei province on Oct. 16.
Photo: Jiaminjie/Zuma Press
BEIJING—China said its economy grew 4.9% in the third quarter from a year earlier, which was slower than expected, but it underscores the robustness of the recovery as its growth rate approaches that of last year—before the coronavirus pandemic leveled the global economy.
The result was lower than a 5.3% median forecast expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal, but higher than a 3.2% year-over-year expansion recorded in the second quarter after the gross domestic product contracted 6.8% in the first three months of 2020.
Compared with the second quarter, China’s gross domestic product rose 2.7% in the July-to-September period, slowing from an 11.5% quarter-to-quarter increase for the three months ended June 30, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics Monday.
In the first three quarters, Chinese economy grew 0.7% from a year earlier. China recorded growth of 6.1% for 2019.
Beijing broke with tradition and didn’t set a growth target for 2020 after its economy was ravaged by the coronavirus in the first quarter. Instead, leaders vowed to stabilize the job market and contain the virus this year.
China’s urban surveyed jobless rate dropped to 5.4% in September, lower than 5.6% in August and off a record high of 6.2% in February.
—Grace Zhu contributed to this article.
Write to Jonathan Cheng at [email protected]
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
