Profits in Chinese industrial firms grew at a faster pace in March from a year earlier, despite negative impact from resurgence of COVID-19 wave.
According to official data, profits in March were up 12.2% from a year earlier, according to Reuters based on the data from National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The pace of profit growth accelerated from the first two months of the year. Industrial profits in the combined January-February period were 5% higher than a year earlier, as repeated by Reuters.
For January-March, industrial firms’ profits were up 8.5% on a year before, down 3.8 percentage points compared with the last quarter in 2021, according to the NBS.
Gross domestic product of China expanded by 4.8% in the first quarter from a year earlier.
However, China showed slowdown in March consumption, real estate and exports were hit by zero-covid policy sparking recession risks.
Exports, a major driver of the economy, were up 14.7% in March from a year earlier, slowing from a 16.3% gain in January-February.
China would step up efforts to soften impact on the economy and boost annual economic growth back to above 5%, according to Wang Yiming, a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the People’s Bank of China.
