In Qingzhou, Weifang City, Shandong Province of China, an employee is diligently working on the assembly line of intelligent machinery at a workshop. This scene is a testament to China’s rapidly growing economy, as evidenced by the official data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on March 31, 2024.
The data revealed that 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%, falling short of expectations for a growth rate of at least six percent. Similarly, retail sales saw a mere three percent year-on-year growth, below expectations for four percent or more growth rates this year. However, despite these setbacks, major cities across China have seen their unemployment rates decrease to five percent or lower since January, indicating that businesses are continuing to invest and hire workers despite challenging economic conditions