Explainer | China GDP: first-quarter growth ‘smashes’ expectations, but has Beijing put too many eggs in its basket?
- China’s widely watched gross domestic product (GDP) figure beat expectations in the first three months of the year, rising by 5.3 per cent compared to a year earlier
- Retail sales growth dropped to 3.1 per cent in March, while property investment fell by 9.5 per cent in the first quarter
1. GDP ‘smashed’ expectations in first quarter
The gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first three months of the year “smashed” market expectations, according to Harry Murphy Cruise, economist at Moody’s Analytics.
“After a shaky start, China’s economy slowly found its footing in the first quarter. The 5.3 per cent year on year jump blew market expectations out of the water, with a more modest 4.8 per cent expansion predicted,” he said.
The better-than-expected result was buoyed by an uptick in investment, he added, along with an increase in industrial production.
Quarter on quarter, China’s economy grew by 1.6 per cent in the first three months of the year, up from a rise of 1.2 per cent from the previous three months.
“China’s economy performed better than the market expected in the first quarter. This was partly driven by external demand, as export volume improved by 14 per cent compared with a year ago,” said Zhang Zhiwei, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.