China’s skyrocketing cases of COVID-19 since it abandoned pandemic restrictions are hampering its economic recovery.
Widespread outbreaks have left businesses short of workers, while the authorities’ seemingly chaotic approach has dampened spending as people and businesses hold on to savings. Manufacturing and service-sector activity levels are at their lowest since the early days of the pandemic in 2020. The combination of factors suggests “that the road to recovery will be uneven and painful,” The New York Times’s Beijing bureau chief wrote. With economic growth slumping in much of the West, a hoped-for shot in the arm from China doesn’t look imminent.
