Covid-19: China's curbs send economy reeling to worst since Apr 2020

The services industry was already suffering in March, with consumer spending contracting by the most since mid-2020.

China’s economy slowed rapidly in April as the costs of both a worsening Covid outbreak and the nation’s stringent approach to eliminating the virus took their toll.  That’s the outlook from Bloomberg’s aggregate index of eight early indicators for this month. The overall gauge fell below the mark that separates improving from deteriorating conditions, and hit the worst level since April 2020.

   

The almost across-the-board contraction in the PMIs marked a turning point for the economy and came as daily Covid cases spiked from around 100 to about 8,000 a day, prompting lockdowns and restrictions across the country.