BEIJING: China’s trade surplus rose and inflation eased in January, official data showed yesterday, adding to recent evidence the world’s number two economy is emerging from a drawn-out downtrend.
The economy expanded last year at its lowest annual rate since 1999, in the face of weakness at home and in key overseas markets. But an uptick in the final three months of 2012 snapped seven straight quarters of slowing growth. And conditions continued to improve in January, according to the government.
The trade surplus rose 7.7 percent year-on-year to $29.2bn for the month, the General Administration of Customs said, beating a median $26.6bn forecast of economists in a Dow Jones Newswires survey. January exports jumped a solid 25 percent to $187.4bn, while imports soared 28.8 percent to $158.2bn, said Customs.
At the same time inflation slowed to 2 percent in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said, easing from a seven-month peak of 2.5 percent in December.
Afp
