China's GDP up 4.5% in Q1

China's economy grew by 4.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, versus 2.9 percent in the last quarter of 2022, posting a steady economic rebound, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. 

The country's first-quarter gross domestic product came in at around 28.5 trillion yuan ($4.15 trillion). On a quarter-on-quarter basis, China's GDP grew by 2.2 percent in the first three months of the year, the NBS said.

Despite the improvement in key economic indicators, the NBS warned of pressures from a complicated international environment and insufficient domestic demand, saying the recovery trend is not yet solid.

More efforts should be made to promote high-quality growth, fully unleash the potential of the domestic demand, deepen reforms and expand high-level opening-up, the NBS said. 

Figures released by the NBS showed China's value-added industrial output, a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors, grew by 3.9 percent in March from a year earlier after a 2.4 percent rise in the first two months. 

In the first quarter, value-added industrial output grew by 3 percent compared to the same period last year, while in the last quarter of 2022, it rose by 2.7 percent from a year earlier. 

Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending, grew by 10.6 percent year-on-year in March, from the 3.5 percent growth in the first two months. 

In the first quarter, retail sales rose by 5.8 percent compared to the same period last year, while in the last quarter of 2022, they declined 2.7 percent from a year earlier. 

Fixed-asset investment – a gauge of expenditures on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment – rose by 5.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, flat with the growth in 2022 and down from the 5.5 percent rise in the first two months. 

The surveyed urban jobless rate came in at 5.3 percent in March from 5.6 percent in February, according to the NBS.