China’s economic activity strengthened in the first two months of the year as investment picked up and consumer spending recovered following the end of COVID-19 restrictions.
Retail sales rose 3.5% from the same period last year, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Wednesday, in line with forecasts and reversing from a 1.8% drop in December. Industrial output growth accelerated to 2.4% in the two-month period, slightly below expectations.
Fixed-asset investment climbed 5.5% during the two-month period, better than the 4.5% estimate and 5.1% growth for the whole of last year. The jobless rate rose to 5.6% following the Lunar New Year holidays, with the rate for young people jumping to a six-month high of 18.1%.