"In April ... all regions and departments consolidated and coordinated both the epidemic prevention and control and the economic and social development, the production and demand continued to grow, the employment and prices were generally stable, and the new growth drivers were cultivated and thriving. The national economy continued the momentum of stable recovery," the bureau said in a statement.
According to the report, total profits of Chinese industrial sector "above the designated size" showed a 1.37 times increase compared to the same period last year in the first three months of 2021, reaching 1,825.4 billion yuan ($283.5 billion). International trade also showed sustained growth in April, bringing the total value of imports and exports of goods to 3,149.2 billion yuan, up by 26.6% year on year, the bureau noted.
At the same time, the document stressed that the world is still grappling with the pandemic and the global economic recovery is unbalanced. Because of this, the foundation for domestic economic recovery "is not yet solid and new circumstances and problems have emerged in the development," the bureau warned.
China's GDP in the first quarter of 2021 grew by 18.3% compared to the same period last year. The country's GDP growth rate in 2021 is officially expected to exceed 6%, while experts consider this forecast as modest and believe that the growth rate may be as high as 8%.
In 2020, China's economic growth slowed down to 2.3% due to the effects of the pandemic, the lowest annual GDP growth rate in the last 40 years.
