<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>China's economy grew a forecast-busting 4.5 percent in the first quarter as the country reopened after the end of zero-Covid measures late last year, official data showed Tuesday.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The figures were the first snapshot since 2019 of the world's second-largest economy unencumbered by the strict health measures that helped keep the coronavirus in check but battered businesses and supply chains.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A key driver of the standout reading was a bounce in retail sales, the main indicator of household consumption, which surged 10.6 percent on-year in March, the biggest increase since June 2021.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However, industrial production climbed 3.9 percent last month, an improvement from January-February but below analysts' expectations of 4.4 percent, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Tuesday's NBS report said in the first three months of the year China had faced a "grave and complex international environment as well as arduous tasks to advance reform, development and ensure stability at home".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Beijing's virus-containment policy -- an unstinting regime of strict quarantines, mass testing and travel curbs -- strongly constrained normal economic activity before it was abruptly ditched in December.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Chinese economy is also beset by a series of other crises, from a debt-laden property sector to flagging consumer confidence, global inflation, the threat of recession elsewhere, and geopolitical tensions with the United States.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Since the rapid dismantling of the suffocating zero-Covid policy, Chinese people have in recent months returned to restaurants and started to travel again, giving much-needed stimulus to services.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- Modest growth target -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Consumption saw a recovery during the first quarter partly because of pent-up demand but is not yet back on pre-pandemic levels," Teeuwe Mevissen, an analyst at RaboBank, said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Loss in household wealth due to the real estate crisis and loss of household income during the pandemic are factors why consumers have not spent more."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And Iris Pang, the chief economist for Greater China at ING, said the primary reason for the faster-than-expected growth was the much stronger growth in retail sales, which were "mainly boosted by catering".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The official January-to-March growth figure was significantly higher than the 3.8 percent predicted by analysts in an AFP poll.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">China's economy grew just three percent in the whole of last year, one of its weakest performances in decades.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It posted a 4.8 percent expansion in the first quarter of 2022, though that slowed to just 2.9 percent in the final three months of the year.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The government has set a comparatively modest growth target of around five percent this year, a goal the country's Premier Li Qiang has warned could be hard to achieve.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An AFP poll of analysts predicted that the Chinese economy would grow by an average of 5.3 percent this year, roughly in line with the International Monetary Fund's 5.2 percent forecast.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Still, experts have warned that wider global trends could yet weigh on China's recovery.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ken Cheung at Mizuho Bank said domestic consumption "proved to be the pillar" behind the economic improvement, but "industrial production was disappointing given the strong rebound in exports growth".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He added it will "take time for business confidence recovery, which requires translating the credit expansion into money flow to support real economic activities". AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>