China’s economy continued to advance, combined figures for January and February released on Monday showed, although the numbers are difficult to interpret due to the weak comparison base from a coronavirus-hit 2020, reported the South China Morning Post.
Both retail sales and industrial production data were stronger than expected, suggesting that the economy continued to gain momentum in the first quarter of 2021. However, fixed asset investment growth was lower than expected, while rose during the first two months of the year, underscoring the even nature of the economic recovery.
Retail sales grew by 33.8% year on year in the combined figures for January and February, compared to a growth of 4.6% in December.
The surge in percentage terms, though, was due in large part to the low comparison base from the same period last year when the coronavirus tore through the world’s second-largest economy.