In the bustling workshop of intelligent machinery in Weifang City, Shandong Province, China, an employee tirelessly works on the assembly line. This scene serves as a powerful reminder of China’s rapidly growing economy, as evidenced by the official data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on March 31, 2024.
According to this data, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of the year grew by 5.3% compared to the same period in the previous year. This growth exceeded the 4.6% forecast by economists polled by Reuters and marked an acceleration from the 5.2% expansion seen in the fourth quarter of 2023.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, China’s GDP grew by 1.6% in the first quarter, surpassing the 1.4% expected by the Reuters poll. This growth trajectory aligns with Beijing’s target of achieving around 5% growth in 2024.
Last week, Morgan Stanley revised its 2024 real GDP forecast for China to 4.8%, up from its previous projection of 4.2%. Despite weak export and inflation data earlier in the month, the Chinese economy continues to show signs of resilience.
Industrial output for March increased by only 4.5% year on year, falling short of expectations for a growth rate of 6%. Similarly, retail sales saw only a modest increase of just under
