CHINA expects the impact from the coronavirus outbreak on the economy to decrease in the second quarter and the pressure on the country’s unemployment would ease as economy improves, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.

Authorities are still confident of achieving the full-year economic growth target, said bureau spokesman Mao Shengyong, adding that the economy is expected to show significant improvement in March.

Industrial output fell by a much larger-than-expected 13.5 percent in the January-February period from the same period a year earlier, data from the NBS showed yesterday.

That was the weakest reading since January 1990, and a sharp reversal of the 6.9 percent growth in December. The median forecast of analysts polled previously was for a rise of 1.5 percent, though estimates varied widely.

Investment slumped 24.5 percent in the January-February period year on year while private sector investment dived 26.4 percent.

Retail sales shrank 20.5 percent as consumers shunned crowded places like shopping malls, restaurants and movie theatres.

China’s jobless rate rose to 6.2 percent in February, up from 5.2 percent in December and hitting the highest since official records were published.

The NBS said the impact from the coronavirus epidemic is controllable and short-term and that authorities would strengthen pro-growth policies.

Mao from the NBS told reporters there was room for to raise budget deficit ratio this year, following recent fiscal stimulus including tax waivers, subsidies and cuts in social insurance fees.

China has yet to publicly issue its target, which would ordinarily be announced at the start of the annual parliament meeting. That meeting was originally scheduled for March 5 but was postponed due to the outbreak.

The Global Times yesterday quoted Wei Jianguo, vice head of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a think tank, as saying that China’s 6 percent growth goal for 2020 remained intact.

(SD-Agencies)