(Bloomberg) -- China’s 2021 gross domestic product was about $80 billion larger than first calculated, the National Bureau of Statistics said, a revision that added the equivalent of Ghana’s output to the size of the world’s second-largest economy.  

The nation’s GDP was 114.9 trillion yuan ($16.5 trillion), 556.7 billion yuan larger than what was calculated previously, the NBS said in a statement Tuesday. The revision put China’s economic growth last year at 8.4%, compared with 8.1% in the preliminary reading released in January.

The NBS usually releases preliminary GDP results for the previous year in January and final results by the end of the next January, based on revisions for factors such as the collection of more comprehensive data from businesses. Tuesday’s announcement means the comparison base for economic expansion this year has become higher.

China’s economy this year has been battered by repeated Covid outbreaks and an ongoing property downturn. It’s facing more disruptions in the coming months after the government abruptly abandoned the Covid Zero strategy just as cases surged in winter. Economists have forecast the country’s growth to slow to 3% in 2022, before rebounding to 4.9% next year. 

Manufacturing and leasing and business services were the main contributors to the changes in 2021 GDP. Their respective value-added output increased by 278.4 billion yuan and 213.4 billion yuan, according to a breakdown provided by the NBS. The value-added output of the construction industry was slashed by 139.7 billion yuan, the biggest reduction among all sectors.

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