A recovery in China’s industrial sector, which accounts for about one-third of the economy, drove China’s better-than-expected first quarter economic growth as export orders picked up and steel output hit a record.
Data on Tuesday (April 18) from the National Bureau of Statistics showed the industrial sector grew 6.5 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, its fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2014. On Monday, China reported first quarter growth of 6.9 per cent, the quickest in six quarters.
Within the industrial sector, manufacturing grew 7.0 per cent compared with the first quarter last year.
Analysts credited growth in exports, in contrast to a contraction in the first three months of 2016, for providing the pick-up in the first quarter.
“It looks to us like the acceleration in 1Q 2017 GDP growth came from electronics exports complementing the 4Q 2016 growth drivers, housing and infrastructure investment,” Tim Condon, head of Asia research at ING, said in a note.
China Business News
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