People buy Apple products in the new Apple flagship store on the first day after an outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Sanlitun, Beijing, China, July 17, 2020.
Thomas Peter | Reuters
BEIJING – China reported gross domestic product slightly lower than expected in the first quarter, as industrial production disappoints but retail sales beat.
GDP rose 18.3% in the first three months of the year from a year ago, the Chinese Bureau of Statistics said Friday. According to Reuters analysts, this is slightly below the expectation of a 19% increase.
Growth in growth slowed in the first quarter of last year, when the economy shrank by 6.8% during the peak of the domestic outbreak of Covid-19. China was the first country to deal with the disease, and the economy grew again in the second quarter of last year.
GDP expanded by 10.3% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2019, the Bureau of Statistics said.
China also said retail sales rose 34.2% in March, rising above expectations by 28%.
Industrial production rose 14.1% in March, forecasting Reuters’ growth of 17.2%.
The slower growth in industrial production took place despite the fact that more workers remained seated during the Spring Festival and did not travel home for a month-long holiday.
The Bureau of Statistics warns in an English-language statement that the spread of Covid-19 worldwide and the “international landscape is fraught with great uncertainties and instabilities.”
“The basis for domestic recovery has yet to be consolidated and long-term structural problems remain prominent with new situations and issues arising from development,” the bureau said.
The unemployment rate in urban countries pulled lower to 5.3% in March, but that of China’s youngest workers aged 16 to 24 remained high at 13.6%, the data showed.
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