(Photo: picture alliance / dpa)
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Warning in Beijing: The Chinese government expects because of the Coronavirus epidemic a slump in the foreign trade in the first two months of the year. “We expect import and export growth to slow sharply in January and February,” said Li Xingqian, director of the Department of Commerce’s foreign trade department.
Exports contribute about a fifth to the world champion’s gross domestic product (GDP). Numerous factories are standing still to curb the epidemic. Others have difficulty restarting production due to a lack of labor and raw materials after the forced break. The government therefore wants to help companies.
The GDP the second largest economy in the US is expected to grow much more slowly in the first quarter, according to economists’ forecasts. They anticipate that the plus could halve to 3 percent after growing by 6 percent in late 2019.
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