China’s economy grew by 18.3% in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same quarter last year.
This is the biggest quarterly jump since 1992.
In the first quarter of 2020, China’s economy shrank 6.8% due to nationwide lockdowns at the peak of its Covid-19 outbreak.
“The national economy made a good start,” said China’s National Bureau of Statistics, which released the first quarter data.
But it added: “We must be aware that the Covid-19 epidemic is still spreading globally and the international landscape is complicated with high uncertainties and instabilities.”
Other key figures released by China’s statistics department also point to a continuing rebound, but are also unusually strong because they are compared against extremely weak numbers from last year.
Industrial output for March rose 14.1% over a year ago, while retail sales grew 34.2%.
However, some analysts predict a number of sectors will slow as government fiscal and monetary support is reduced.
Despite a calamitous start to the year, China was the only major economy to register growth in 2020 albeit its weakest in decades, at 2.3%.
China has set an economic growth target of 6% for 2021, after scrapping its target last year.