China’s GDP grows 1.1 pc in first three months of 2016 – slowest quarterly pace since 2010
Analysts had expected 1.5 per cent rise amid signs of mainland’s economy stabilising from January to March, including positive news over trade, inflation, output and credit
China’s economy expanded at a seasonally adjusted 1.1 per cent during the first quarter of 2016 compared with last year’s fourth quarter – the lowest quarterly rise since 2010, National Bureau of Statistics data shows.
The slower-than-expected quarterly growth rate comes amid other signs the Chinese economy was stabilising during the first quarter, including positive surprises from trade, inflation, output and credit.
The 1.1 per cent growth rate clearly illustrates that China’s economy still faces downward pressures
Analysts had expected quarterly growth of 1.5 per cent for the first quarter, but the statistics bureau did not release quarterly figures when it issued annual figures on Friday.
“The 1.1 per cent growth rate clearly illustrates that China’s economy still faces downward pressures,” Zhou Hao, a senior economist at Commerzbank, wrote in a research note on Monday.
“If we calculate the seasonally adjusted GDP growth based on the qoq (quarter-on-quarter) numbers, we find that there is a big gap (0.4 per cent point) between headline GDP growth (non-seasonally adjusted) and the seasonally adjusted GDP growth,” he wrote.
“As economists, we always prefer the seasonally adjusted qoq numbers, which better tell the underlying growth momentum,” he added.