On the Impact of the ‘Zero COVID-19’ Policy on China’s Economic and Financial Systems

The article examines the “zero COVID-19 policy” in China pursued in 2020–2022 in order to address the pandemic, and provides a number of measures based on “zero tolerance for coronavirus.” The essence of this policy was to localize the pandemic, reduce the number of cases, and save people’s lives. The fight against the pandemic slowed down, but did not stop the socio-economic development of the PRC. The article also reviews publications on the impact of the pandemic on the economic and financial systems, and statistical data published by various economic and financial structures in China. Dialectical approach, methods of analysis, synthesis and generalization, graphic and tabular methods were used during the study, due to which both positive and negative consequences of applying the “zero COVID-19 policy” were identified. It is emphasized that the “zero COVID-19 policy” was effective not only in combating the pandemic until November 2022 but also quite successful in solving economic and financial problems, despite lockdowns, quarantines, etc. The article pays particular attention to such economic and financial indicators of China as GDP, exports, imports, trade balance, foreign direct and domestic government investment, and foreign exchange reserves. Since the spring of 2022, dissatisfaction and irritation of the population with the “zero COVID-19 policy” has noticeably increased, and in November protests against anti-Covid restrictions took place in some cities around China. As a result, the government had to abandon the “zero COVID-19 policy” and move to a rapid lifting of restrictive measures. As a result, there was an immediate large coronavirus outbreak, which soon began to decline. With its effectively implemented “zero COVID-19 policy,” China has strengthened its leadership position on the world stage. In conclusion, it is stated that this policy, which has become a thing of history, deserves a positive assessment.