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On the macro-economic level, there are many concerns and the whole planet has its eyes riveted on the
workshop of the world, which unveiled on Monday 16 May its worst economic performance in two years.
With the imposed factory closures, industrial production has fallen by 2.9% compared to last year.
There has been a drop in demand and a decline in retail sales of almost 11.1% year-on-year. Not since
February 2020 and the containment of Wuhan have Chinese SMEs been so pessimistic. The Caixin
index, which assesses the outlook for industrial activity, fell to 46 in April; an index below 50 is a sign of
contraction in activity.
Directly associated with the lock-in policy, the unemployment rate jumped from 5.8% in March to 6.1%
in April, dangerously close to the all-time high of 6.2% in February 2020, at the height of the initial
outbreak. China's exports also contracted in April for the first time since 2020.
The announcement of these economic results is all the more worrying in the light of a saying that
economists like to repeat: "When China is sneezing, the world is catching a cold."

elderly couple waring mask to prevent covid-19

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