China’s gross domestic product grew 4.5 per cent year on year in the first quarter, as stronger than expected exports and property prices drove a recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
The rebound, which exceeded analyst expectations of a 4 per cent rise, according to a Bloomberg poll, followed efforts by Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government to restore business confidence damaged by pandemic controls last year and abrupt policy changes.
The January-March growth rate was still short of the government’s full-year target of 5 per cent, held back by a nationwide Covid-19 outbreak this year, but economists expected it to pick up pace as the year progresses.