China's economy grows despite intl challenges: expert

ISTANBUL -- China's economy grew in the first quarter of this year, exceeding expectations despite a series of complicated issues in the international arena, a Turkish economist has said.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.8 percent year-on-year to 27.02 trillion yuan ($4.24 trillion) in the first three months, quickening from a 4-percent increase in the fourth quarter last year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday.

The quarterly growth in China exceeds market expectations, which were around 4.2 percent, Sinan Alcin, an economics and management consultant, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 6.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, data from the NBS showed.

In March alone, industrial output rose 5 percent year-on-year and 0.39 percent from the previous month, the NBS said.

Alcin, also an academic at the Istanbul-based Beykoz University, said the growth figures came amid the global inflation prompted by the long-lasting COVID-19 pandemic and the month-long crisis in Ukraine.

In his view, China would continue to contribute to the global economy, especially with the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.

The RCEP, the world's largest free trade deal to date, covers 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its five free trade agreement partners, namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

The RCEP countries account for roughly 30 percent of the world's gross domestic product and population. Over 90 percent of trade in goods among approved member states will gradually be tariff-free.

China's role in regional economic growth and global development would be very important, Alcin said.