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		</div><p>China suffered its worst economic contraction since since at least the 1970s in the first quarter as it fought the coronavirus.</p>
<p>Weak consumer spending and factory activity also suggest the country faces a longer, harder recovery than initially expected.</p>
<p>The world’s second-largest economy shrank 6.8% from a year ago in the three months ending in March after factories, shops and travel were shut down to contain the infection, official data showed on Friday.</p>
<p>That was stronger than some forecasts that predicted a contraction of up to 16% but was still China’s worst performance since before market-style economic reforms started in 1979.</p>
<p>Some forecasters earlier said China, which led the way into a global shutdown to fight the virus, might rebound as early as this month.</p>
<p>But they have been cutting growth forecasts and pushing back recovery timelines as negative trade, retail sales and other data pile up.</p>
<p><em>“I don’t think we will see a real recovery until the fourth quarter or the end of the year,”</em> said economist Zhu Zhenxin at the Rushi Finance Institute in Beijing.</p>
<p>Retail spending, which supplied 80% of China’s economic growth last year, plunged 19% in the first quarter from a year earlier, below most forecasts. Investment in factories and other fixed assets, the other major growth driver, sank 16.1%.</p>
<p>The ruling Communist Party declared victory over the virus in early March and started reopening factories and offices even as the United States and Europe tightened controls.</p>
<p>But cinemas, hair salons and other businesses deemed nonessential but employ millions of people are still closed. Tourism is struggling to recover.</p>
<p>Controls on Beijing, the capital, and some other cities have been tightened to prevent a resurgence of the disease. Most foreigners are barred from entering the country.</p>
<p>Consumer spending is slow to recover despite government moves to encourage spending by giving out shopping vouchers in some cities and launching a media campaign showing officials eating in restaurants.</p>
<p>Many would-be shoppers are holding onto their money out of fear about possible job losses. Others are reluctant to venture into supermarkets or even leave their homes.</p>
<p>That is a blow to automakers and other companies that hope China will power the world economy out of its most painful slump since the 1930s.</p>
<p>The ruling Communist party has appealed to companies to keep paying employees and avoid layoffs. It is promising tax breaks and loans to help entrepreneurs recover. Still, a wave of bankruptcies has flooded the job market, adding to economic anxiety.</p>
<p>Car sales sank 48.4% from a year earlier in March. That was better than February’s record 81.7% plunge but is on top of a two-year decline that already was squeezing global and Chinese carmakers in the industry’s biggest global market.</p>
<p>Exports declined 6.6% in March from a year ago. That was an improvement over the double-digit plunge in January and February, but forecasters warn exporters likely face another downturn as the fight against the virus depresses US and European consumer demand.</p>
<p>Forecasters including Oxford Economics, UBS and Nomura say China will have little to no economic growth this year.</p>
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