International observers lauded China's economic performance in the first quarter of 2026, highlighting its robust high-tech industries and resilient supply chain.
China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2026, getting off to a good start, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Thursday.
The country's GDP reached 33.4 trillion yuan (about 4.9 trillion U.S. dollars) during this period, the NBS data showed.
In the first quarter, "the growth of production and supply accelerated, market demand continued to improve, employment was generally stable, market prices picked up moderately, and high-quality development advanced with new and positive momentum," the NBS said in a statement.
"We've seen Chinese GDP increase 5 percent for the first quarter of 2026, a bit of a rebound from the 4.5 percent recorded at the end of last year and strongly being driven by not only imports and exports, but predominantly a large focus on an increase in manufactured goods, particularly in the likes of vehicles, cars as well as other technologies," said Brad Olsen, an economist from New Zealand.
Khalid Taimur Akram, executive director of the Pakistan Research Center for a Community with Shared Future in Islamabad, said China's complete control over the supply chain makes it largely unaffected by external challenges.
"China is performing really well and the first quarter also the Chinese GDP growth is very, very gradual. And I go to a lot of places and people ask me that the complete world is in problem, but how come China is having a very steady growth? China has a complete control over the supply chain. Now all the supply chain of the things China has it," he said.
Int'l observers hail China's economic performance in Q1
