China's key economic indicators pick up pace

China's economy gained more steam in the first two months of 2024 with improvement in key indicators, including production and investment, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

China's value-added industrial output - a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors - grew by 7 percent in the January-February period from a year earlier after a 6.8 percent rise in December, figures released by the NBS showed.

Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending, surged 5.5 percent year-on-year in the January-February period, after the 7.4 percent rise in December.

Fixed-asset investment - a gauge of expenditures on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment - increased by 4.2 percent in the January-February period year-on-year, compared with a 3 percent rise for the whole year of 2023.

The surveyed urban jobless rate came in at 5.3 percent in February, up from 5.1 percent in December, according to the NBS.

The NBS said the Chinese economy continued to recover in the first two months with stimulus policy measures taking effect gradually.

Meanwhile, the bureau warned of challenges from a more complicated and grimmer external environment, mounting uncertainties and insufficient demand, calling for further moves to strengthen China's economic recovery foundation.