beijing chinas economy contracted for the first time in decades last quarter as drastic measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic brought activity to a standstill official data showed fridaygross domestic product shrank 68 per cent in the januarymarch quarter from the same period a year earlier according to figures released by the national bureau of statistics nbsit was the first negative growth reported by the worlds secondlargest economy since it began logging quarterly data in the early 1990sthe figure marks a sharp drop from chinas six per cent expansion in the fourth quarter of last year but was slightly better than the 82 per cent contraction forecast by economists in an afp polleconomists in china and abroad have long harboured doubts about the accuracy of the official data however suspecting that the numbers are massaged for political reasonsanalysts warn of tougher times ahead with weaker external demand for chinese goods to weigh on growth as its key trading markets are battered by covid19fullyear gdp growth expectations have fallen to 17 per cent according to afps poll which would be the worst annual performance since 1976the coronavirus and resulting containment efforts have already hammered chinas retail sales and industrial productionindustrial output shrank 11 per cent in march reflecting lingering damage from factory shutdowns even as travel restrictions in the country were progressively eased and businesses stirred back to liferetail sales also plummeted 158 per cent last month as many consumers stayed at home and avoided crowds due to fears of a resurgence in virus casesthe urban unemployment rate also dropped slightly to 59 per cent last month after surging to 62 per cent in februarythe international monetary fund has warned that covid19 will trigger a global recession likely to be the deepest economic contraction since the 1930s and pegged chinas 2020 growth at a grim 12 per cent