The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that mainland China’s economy grew by 5.3% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, beating the forecast of 4.8% and up 1.6 percentage points quarter-on-quarter. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was about RMB29.6 trillion (US$4.09 trillion).
The “troika” – China’s economic indicator of consumption, export and investment – also rose in the first quarter, but the scale of the industrial sector and total consumption were weaker than expected at 6.1% versus the expected 6.6%.
Total retail sales of consumer goods increased by about RMB12 trillion (US$1.66 trillion), up 4.7% year-on-year and also weaker than the expected 5.4%, while investment in fixed assets increased by RMB10 trillion (US$1.38 trillion) or 4.5% year-on-year, which was higher than the expected 4%.
