China’s manufacturing and services activity contracted in March for the first time in almost two years, highlighting the economic strains of the government’s strict coronavirus measures.
The official manufacturing PMI, a gauge of factory activity in which a reading of 50 separates monthly expansion from contraction, fell to a five-month low of 49.5. The non-manufacturing PMI dropped to 48.4, its lowest level since August.
The PMI data were released just hours after state media reported that Premier Li Keqiang, head of China’s State Council, was preparing efforts to support economic growth, which has been hit by Covid-19 outbreaks in Shanghai and north-eastern Jilin province.
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