China's industrial output rose 2.4% in January and February as the country continues to ease its COVID-19 restrictions.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics said the 2.4% increase in industrial production slightly missed economist expectations for a 2.6% gain.
However, industrial output in China was up sharply in the first two months of the year compared to a 1.3% annual increase recorded in December 2022.
Consumption and infrastructure investments are driving a recovery from pandemic disruptions, said China’s statistical agency.
China's ending of COVID-19 restrictions late last year has reinvigorated an $18 trillion U.S. economy that has suffered one of its lowest growth rates in half a century.
Retail sales in the first two months of this year increased 3.5% from a year ago, reversing a 1.8% annual decline last December.
Fixed asset investment in the first two months of 2022 were 5.5% higher than a year earlier, growing faster than the 5.1% annual rise seen in all of 2022.
However, not all sectors of China’s economy are staging a recovery. Property investments were down 5.7% in January and February, reflecting ongoing caution on the part of both homebuyers and developers.
