China's Q1 GDP grows 5.4% year-on-year, beating expectations

Beijing is aiming for economic growth of 'around 5%' this year, a goal analysts say is ambitious given a protracted property downturn, sluggish domestic demand and US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods.

Beijing: China's economy grew 5.4 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, data showed on Wednesday, beating expectations, but an escalating trade war with the United States has darkened the outlook and raised pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) to expand 5.1 per cent from a year earlier, slowing from 5.4 per cent in the previous three months.

Beijing is aiming for economic growth of "around 5 per cent" this year, a goal analysts say is ambitious given a protracted property downturn, sluggish domestic demand and US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, GDP expanded 1.2 per cent in the January-to-March period, below expectations for a 1.4 per cent rise and compared with a 1.6 per cent increase in the previous quarter.

Authorities have repeatedly said China has ample policy room to underpin growth, and have vowed to lower interest rates and cut the reserve requirement ratio - the amount of cash banks have to keep in reserve - at an appropriate time.