China records strong economic recovery in April

China’s economy continued to recover, with industrial production growing robustly in April, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Friday.

In April, industrial production by China’s top companies rose 6.7% year-on-year, rising from 4.5% in March.

“Delivery of the announced policy stimulus will be critical given that industrial production is still the main contributor to growth,” Bruce Pang, chief economist at JLL Greater China, told CGTN.

Meanwhile, the country’s total retail sales of consumer goods reached 3.57 trillion yuan ($494 billion) in April, increasing 2.3 percent year-on-year but slowing compared with growth from 3 .1% in March.

Pang noted that consumers were still cautious about spending and likely reduced their budgets in April, expecting higher spending in May during the recent Labor Day holiday week.

China consumption data expected to accelerate in May

“We expect consumption to register stronger momentum in May given the improving employment rate, solid growth in services consumption and additional policy stimulus,” Pang added.

Notably, in the first four months of the year, services retail sales grew 8.4%.

The urban unemployment rate surveyed was 5.2% in April, a drop of 0.2 percentage points compared to the same period last year.

Fixed asset investment increased 4.2% year-on-year from January to April. In particular, investment in high-tech manufacturing, including in aviation, spacecraft and equipment manufacturing, increased by 49.6%.

Meanwhile, the NBS said the annual increase in consumer prices was stable, while the decline in industrial producer prices slowed. The consumer price index rose 0.3% and the producer price index fell 2.5% in April.

Pang said the high base factor disrupted the year-on-year growth momentum of other key indicators.

“However, several indicators are growing steadily month on month, indicating that the economy is still expanding resiliently,” he added.