BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s industrial production grew 5.6% year-on-year in April, official data showed on Tuesday, beating expectations but accelerating from a 3.1% increase. 9% in March.
The data, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, lagged a 10.9% rise in a Reuters analyst poll, but it was the fastest growth since September 2022, largely due to the blowback effect of last April’s contraction when the Shanghai commercial center was under strict COVID lockdown.
Retail sales rose 18.4%, missing forecasts for a 21.0% increase. It was significantly faster than March’s 10.6% increase and marked the fastest growth since March 2021.
Investment in fixed assets increased by 4.7% in the first four months of 2023 compared to the same period a year earlier, while an increase of 5.5% was expected. It grew by 5.1% in the January-March period.
(Reporting by Albee Zhang, Ellen Zhang and Joe Cash; editing by Shri Navaratnam)
