Beijing: China’s economy gained more steam in the first two months of 2024 with improvement in key indicators, including production and investment, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.
According to a report by China Daily, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that China’s value-added industrial output, serving as an indicator of activity within the manufacturing, mining, and utilities sectors, expanded by seven percent during the January-February period compared to the previous year. This growth follows a 6.8 percent increase noted in December.
Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending, surged 5.5 percent year-on-year in the January-February period, after the 7.4 percent rise in December.
Fixed-asset investment – a gauge of expenditures on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment – increased by 4.2 percent in the January-February period year-on-year, compared with a three percent rise for the whole year of 2023.
The surveyed urban jobless rate c
ame in at 5.3 percent in February, up from 5.1 percent in December, according to the NBS.
The NBS said the Chinese economy continued to recover in the first two months with stimulus policy measures taking effect gradually.
Meanwhile, the bureau warned of challenges from a more complicated and grimmer external environment, mounting uncertainties and insufficient demand, calling for further moves to strengthen China’s economic recovery foundation.
Source: Emirates News Agency