China's economic recovery 'better than expected' in Jan.-Feb. 2022
China's economic recovery was "better than expected" in the January-February period this year, as retail sales, industrial output and investment all unexpectedly picked up pace, official data showed on Tuesday.
The country's industrial output went up by 7.5 percent in the period as compared with the figure from a year ago, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The figure is also up from a gain of 4.3 percent in December last year, beating Reuters' forecast of a 3.9-percent surge.
NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui attributed the growth in industrial production to four factors: improvement of energy supply, supportive policies for key sectors at local level, strong exports and consumption driven by holidays and major events – the Spring Festival and the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
However, Fu cautioned about costs pressures facing producers as prices of global commodities are highly volatile due to geopolitical conflicts.
The price increase in upstream industries will have adverse effects on the operation of downstream industries and small and micro enterprises, he said, adding that the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in some places will also affect industrial growth.
Fu said measures will be carried out to increase supply and stabilize prices to help enterprises control production costs. Read More...
