The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Bloomberg
China’s catering industry was one of the biggest drags on output in the first quarter, leading the world’s second-largest economy into its first contraction in decades as the coronavirus brought business to a near standstill.
The accommodation and catering industry fell 35.3% from a year earlier, reversing a 6.2% increase in the previous quarter, the statistics bureau said
in a supplemental report on gross domestic
product.
The wholesale and retail sector suffered a 17.8% decline in the quarter, while the construction industry shrank 17.5%, compared with a 5.3% increase in the last three months of 2019.
Output in industrial enterprises fell 8.5%, after increasing 5.9% in the previous quarter, and manufacturing dropped 10.2%.
The services sector overall, which contributed 59% of GDP value in the first three months, contracted by 5.2% in the quarter.