China’s exports rebounded unexpectedly to growth in March despite a decline in US and European demand following interest rate hikes to cool inflation.
Exports rose 14.8 per cent over a year earlier to USD 315.6 billion, recovering from a 6.8 per cent decline in January and February, customs data showed Thursday. Imports sank 1.4 per cent to USD 227.4 billion, a smaller contraction than the 10.2 per cent slide in the previous two months.
China’s politically sensitive global trade surplus widened by 82 per cent over a year earlier to USD 88.2 billion.
Exports to the United States and the 27-nation European Union, China’s biggest foreign markets, declined after the Federal Reserve and other central banks raised rates to slow consumer and business activity.
That was offset by double-digit gains in sales to Canada, Indonesia, Russia and other markets.
Trade weakness adds to complications for President Xi Jinping’s government, which is trying to revive economic growth that sank last year to 3 per cent, the second-weakest rate since the 1970s. The ruling Communist Party set this year’s growth target at “around 5 per cent.”
