China’s GDP grows 18.3 percent

BEIJING: FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021 – China’s economy grew sharply in the first quarter of this year, according to official data released on Friday. The economy, which has been weakened by the Corona virus epidemic, has seen rapid growth this year.

China has been preparing quarterly reports on the country’s economy for the past three decades. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 18.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to Chinese government officials.

However, the growth is slightly lower than the AFP survey of economists.

Despite the outbreak of the Corona epidemic in China in late 2019, the government has taken strict control measures and the general public has been living at home.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Liu Aihua, a spokeswoman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said the national economy was doing well.

“One of the reasons for the sharp increase in GDP compared to the previous year is the low growth in GDP last year,” she said.

Retail sales rose sharply in March. Statistics show good progress in the consumer sector, which is the backbone of the Chinese economy.

Industrial production grew slightly lower than expected in the quarter, at 24.5 percent. Only a few days ago, public figures showed that exports in March outperformed China’s imports.

Spokesman Liu said the international scenario was still surrounded by uncertainty.

Although vaccination campaigns against coronavirus have been launched in many parts of the world, the distribution of vaccines has been unbalanced and in many countries, the spread of the virus has increased and measures have been taken to curb it.

China’s urban unemployment rate has also declined. Urban unemployment averaged 5.3 percent in the first quarter.