China's retail sales grow 4% in Jan-Feb period

Shoppers browse digital products offering trade-in subsidies at a store in Hefei, Anhui province. CHEN SANHU/FOR CHINA DAILY

China's economy continued to recover in the first two months this year as consumption and investment showed improvement, official data showed on Monday, making a steady start for 2025.

Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending, surged 4 percent year-on-year over the January-February period, after the 3.7 percent rise in December. 

China's value-added industrial output - a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors - grew by 5.9 percent over the January-February period from a year earlier after a 6.2 percent rise in December, figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics NBS showed. 

Fixed-asset investment - a gauge of expenditures on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment - increased by 4.1 percent over the January-February period year-on-year, compared with a 3.2 percent rise for the whole year of 2024. 

The surveyed urban jobless rate came in at 5.3 percent in the first two months, up from 5.1 percent in December, according to the NBS. The figure came in at 5.4 percent in February, 0.2 percentage point higher than that in the previous month. 

The NBS said the Chinese economy maintained growth momentum in the first two months with various macroeconomic policy measures taking effect gradually.

Meanwhile, the bureau warned of challenges from a more complicated and grimmer external environment and the lackluster domestic demand, saying some enterprises still face production and operational difficulties and the foundation for sustained recovery is not yet solid. 

Looking ahead, the NBS said the country should implement more proactive and effective macro policies, calling for more moves to stimulate domestic demand, further deepen reforms and opening-up as well as boost economic vitality and improve expectations.