UPDATE - Chinese GDP Rises By 18.3% Year-on-Year In Q1 2021 - Bureau Of Statistics

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th April, 2021) The GDP of China, which is actively recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, has increased by 18.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, the national Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

"According to preliminary estimates, the gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter reached 24,931.0 billion Yuan [$3.8 trillion], up by 18.3 percent year on year, or up by 0.6 percent over that in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 10.3 percent over that in the first quarter of 2019, with an average two-year growth of 5.0 percent at comparable prices," the bureau said in a statement.

The bureau also boasted an increased urban employment, compared to the first quarter of 2020.

"In the first quarter, the newly increased employed people in urban areas numbered 2.

97 million. In March, the urban surveyed unemployment rate was 5.3 percent, down by 0.2 percentage point compared with that in February and 0.6 percentage point lower than that of the same period of the previous year," the statement read.

The bureau's spokesperson, Liu Aihua, elaborated on the labor data during a press conference, saying that the country has managed to implement its annual job creation plan by 27 percent within the first three months.

In late 2019-early 2020, the Chinese city of Wuhan became an epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, which prompted the authorities to impose strict restrictions. As a result of that, last year, the Chinese economy rose by 2.3 percent, marking the lowest decrease since 1976.