New Delhi: The coronavirus pandemic has left a major gaping hole in the Chinese economy as China's GDP fell by 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, the first contraction in the Asian superpower's economy since 1976, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday.

The Chinese GDP stood at 20.65 trillion yuan ($2,916 billion) in the first quarter of 2020, a year-on-year drop of 6.8 per cent, reports Efe news.

The contraction, worse than several analysts had anticipated, marks the first disruption of the unprecedented growth that the Chinese economy has recorded in recent decades.

China began measuring its GDP in 1992 but the rest of the existing data to date suggests that the country's economy had not entered recession for more than 40 years.

Data published by the NBS shows that, in March when the pandemic began to abate in the country, the economy remained under heavy pressure.

Industrial production fell 11 per cent that month from 13.5 per cent in January and February, while manufacturing decreased by 10.2 per cent.

Retail sales, which tracks consumer spending, declined by 15.8 per cent, while investment in fixed assets - such as infrastructure, housing, machinery and equipment - fell by 16.1 per cent in the first three months.

The value added of the primary industry decreased by 3.2 per cent, that of the secondary industry by 9.6 per cent and of the tertiary industry by 5.2 per cent.

The first-quarter GDP data confirms the slowdown of the Chinese economy due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this week, China announced that its foreign trade had declined by 6.4 per cent in the first three months of the year.

The country's economy is still trying to make a full recovery.

Analysts expect a recovery of the Asian giant's economy in the second half of the year and the International Monetary Fund predicted two days ago that China will avoid recession and grow at 1.2 per cent this year.

In January, before the pandemic erupted, the agency had estimated a 6 per cent growth for China in 2020 against the 6.1 per cent growth officially recorded by the country the previous year.