China GDP: economy surged record 18.3 per cent in first quarter compared to a year earlier, but slowed versus fourth quarter
- China’s economy grew by 18.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to a year ago but slowed to 0.6 per cent versus the fourth quarter 2020
- Retail sales and industrial production grew by 34.2 per cent and 14.1 per cent respectively in March from a year earlier
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China’s economy expands record 18.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2021
China’s economy grew by 18.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 compared with a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Friday.
This is the highest quarterly year-on-year growth rate since data first began being published in 1993.
This was just below expectations in the median survey of Bloomberg analysts, which had predicted 18.5 per cent growth between January and March.
“The economic recovery in the first quarter of this year continued, and positive factors are accumulating. At the same time, we must also see that the Covid-19 epidemic is still spreading globally, the international landscape is complicated and severe, the foundation for domestic economic recovery is not yet solid, and some service industries and small and micro enterprises are still facing more difficulties in their production and operation,” said NBS spokeswoman Liu Aihua.
