BEIJING
\nChina\u2019s economy beat expectations in the first quarter, growing 4.8 percent year on year, government data showed on Monday, amid mounting fears of a sharp slowdown due to Beijing\u2019s draconian \u201czero-Covid\u201d policies and the Ukraine war.
\nThe world\u2019s second-largest economy had been forecast to grow 4.4 percent in the January-March period, according to a Reuters poll of economists, up from 4 percent in the last quarter of 2021. Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 1.3 percent over the period on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
\nChina\u2019s industrial output increased 5.0 percent in March compared to a year earlier, while retail sales shrank 3.5 percent. While boosting Beijing\u2019s prospects of hitting its ambitious target of 5.5 percent growth in 2022, the stronger-than-expected figures only cover a small period of the continuing ultra-strict lockdown in Shanghai, where residents have faced food shortages and factories have suspended operations.
\nAlthough Chinese President Xi Jinping has ruled out any shift away from the so-called \u201cdynamic zero-Covid\u201d strategy, officials have sounded the alarm about growing risks to the economy as authorities continue to go all out to eliminate the virus.
\nAmong China\u2019s top 100 cities by economic size, 87 are under pandemic restrictions, with the intensity of controls on the rise, according to a recent analysis by investment research firm Gavekal.
\nLast week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stressed the need for a \u201csense of urgency\u201d about the economy, his third such warning in a span of a week.
\nOn Friday, the People\u2019s Bank of China announced a cut to the reserve requirement ratio \u2013 the amount of deposits banks must hold in reserve \u2013 releasing about 530 billion yuan of liquidity into the economy, while keeping its benchmark interest rate on hold. Analysts expect further stimulus in the coming months, although there are divergent views about whether it will do much to boost growth.
\n\u201cWe expect a stronger macro policy response in the second quarter to shore up growth, but the impact will be limited in the context of restricted mobility,\u201d Tommy Wu, lead China economist at Oxford Economics in Hong Kong, said in a note on Monday. \u201cThe effectiveness of policy stimulus will depend on whether mobility will still be restricted in a broad scale, so risks to the outlook remain skewed to the downside.
\nAfter reporting annual growth of 8.1 percent for 2021, Beijing in March unveiled a target of 5.5 percent growth for this year.
\nMany economists are skeptical China\u2019s economy will reach the goal as continuing lockdowns and the war in Ukraine weigh on demand. In March, Chinese factories saw activity drop at the quickest pace in two years, while vehicle sales fell nearly 12 percent year on year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEIJING China\u2019s economy beat expectations in the first quarter, growing 4.8 percent year on year, government data showed on Monday, amid mounting fears of a sharp slowdown due to Beijing\u2019s draconian \u201czero-Covid\u201d policies and the Ukraine war. The world\u2019s second-largest economy had been forecast to grow 4.4 percent in the January-March period, according to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-255849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n