China economy rebounds from Covid slump as consumer spending picks up

China’s economic activity strengthened in the first two months of the year as investment picked up and consumer spending recovered following the ending of Covid 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