China grew at a faster-than-expected clip in the first quarter, belying widespread fears that the COVID-19-induced shutdowns may have hurt the economy.
GDP By Numbers: China’s GDP rose 4.8% year-over-year in the first quarter, exceeding the expected growth of 4.4%, data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed. This also came ahead of the 4% growth posted in the fourth quarter.
On a quarter-over-quarter basis, the growth was 1.3%, slowing from the 1.6% pace in the fourth quarter.
The Chinese government has a GDP growth target of 5.5% for 2022.
The NBS also released a slew of reports, including industrial production, retail sales, fixed-asset investment and unemployment rate. The year-over-year growth in industrial production slowed from 7.5% in February to 5% in March but came ahead of the 4.5% consensus.
On the …