China’s economy grew 5.3% in the first quarter, beating expectations

China’s economy in the first quarter grew faster than expected, official data released Tuesday by China’s National Bureau of Statistics showed.

Gross domestic product in the January to March period grew 5.3% compared to a year ago, faster than the 4.6% growth expected by economists polled by Reuters, and compared to the 5.2% expansion in the fourth quarter of 2023.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, China’s GDP grew 1.6% in the first quarter, compared to a Reuters poll expectations of 1.4% and a revised fourth quarter expansion of 1.2%.

Beijing has set a 2024 growth target of around 5%.

Last week, Morgan Stanley raised its 2024 real GDP forecast for China to 4.8%, from its previous expectation of 4.2%.

The world’s second largest economy saw weak export and inflation data earlier this month, with both sets of data coming in below expectations.

Industrial output for March grew 4.5% year on year, missing expectations of 6%. Retail sales grew 3.1% year on year, lower than expectations of 4.6%.

Unemployment in major cities inched down to 5.2%, snapping a three-month streak of increases.

Immediately after the data release, the offshore yuan strengthened slightly, before retreating from its five-month high seen early Tuesday to trade at 7.2724 against the greenback.