China’s GDP Expands by 5.4% in Q1, Paving the Way to Achieve 2025 Annual Growth Target

By Global Times

Apr 16, 2025 10:01 AM

Lujiazui area in Shanghai Photo:Xinhua

China's GDP grew by 5.4 percent in the first quarter of 2025, higher than broad market expectations as the world's second-largest economy got off to a very strong start and laid a solid foundation for the economy to achieve its goal of growing around 5 percent for the whole year, despite escalating US tariff pressures.

The growth rate, driven by marked growth in export, robust growth in high-tech industrial output and steady growth of domestic consumption, consolidated China's status as one of the fastest growing major economies in the world, which also underscores its role as the major engine of the global economic recovery, Chinese analysts said.

On a quarter-over-quarter basis, the economy grew by 1.2 percent in the first three months.

Retail sales grew by 4.6 percent year-on-year to reach 12.47 trillion yuan in the first quarter, while industrial added-value was up by 6.5 percent, and fixed-asset investment expanded by 4.2 percent, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday.

The GDP growth for Q1, beating a forecast of 5.1 percent by economists polled by Reuters, was achieved as the government's incremental pro-growth policies took hold. It reflected the resilience of the Chinese economy and the attractiveness of its vast market even as the country is bracing for global volatilities and disruptions caused by US government's reckless tariff policy.

The GDP growth in the first quarter signals a very strong start for the world's second-largest economy, Chen Fengying, a research fellow at the Beijing-based China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times.

"Growth in consumption, investment, industrial output, together with a boom in technological innovations highlighted by the wide application of DeepSeek, the boost in confidence in the private sector and foreign-funded companies, are proved to be key drivers supporting first-quarter growth," Chen said.

She added that the first-quarter foreign trade data also displayed a strong resilience and the country's stock market has weathered external shocks.

Despite an increasingly complex and challenging external environment, China, backed up with its stable economic performance, will continue to be the indisputable anchor of stability for the global economy, Chen said, noting that the implementation of more supportive monetary and fiscal policies will help maintain the upward growth momentum in the second quarter.

Global Times