China's economy in the July-September period expanded 3.9 percent from a year earlier, with growth gathering pace from the previous quarter following the end of a two-month lockdown in Shanghai, official data showed Monday.
The data, originally due for publication last Tuesday, was released after an unusual delay announced during the ruling Communist Party's congress through Saturday.
Although the latest year-on-year gross domestic product figures improved from a 0.4 percent expansion during the previous quarter, the outlook for the world's second-largest economy has become increasingly bearish, with the Chinese government so far sticking with its "zero-COVID" policy designed to prevent a rise in coronavirus cases.
Amid fears of a global economic slowdown amid high inflation and the implementation of monetary tightening policy in other countries, analysts suggest it will be difficult for Beijing to achieve its growth target of around 5.5 percent for 2022. In the January-March period, the economy grew 4.8 percent on year.
On a quarterly basis, China's GDP grew 3.9 percent in the third quarter, rebounding from a revised 2.7 percent contraction logged in the previous three-month period.
During the first nine months of 2022, retail sales of consumer goods rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier, while investment in fixed assets, excluding rural households, increased 5.9 percent, though real estate development dropped 8.0 percent.
Industrial production in China, dubbed the "world's factory," grew 3.9 percent.
The National Bureau of Statistics said China's economy "overcame the adverse impacts inflicted by multiple unexpected shocks." But it warned that the "the foundation for domestic economic recovery is still not solid," with the external environment "becoming increasingly complicated and severe."
The bureau called for a more effective coordination of China's COVID-19 response with economic measures, so as to contain the epidemic while stabilizing the economy and keeping development secure.
President Xi Jinping told reporters Sunday the strong fundamentals of the Chinese economy will not change and it will remain on a positive trajectory over the long run.
But the nation's economy has recently been overshadowed by a weakening property sector, alongside global supply chain disruption which has been further exacerbated by the Ukraine crisis.
Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for China by 0.1 percentage point in 2022 and 0.2 point in 2023 to 3.2 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively, from its projections released in July.
S&P Global Ratings said in a report in September that China's zero-COVID policy is a bigger threat to its corporate outlook than inflation, which increased to 2.8 percent on year in September, as recurring cycles of outbreaks and lockdowns are weighing on the country's fragile consumption, further compounding its property crisis.
However, Xi defended the radical anti-virus measures at the ruling party's twice-a-decade congress, saying they helped protect people's lives "to the greatest extent possible."
China plans to maintain the zero-COVID policy until at least next spring in order to lessen the risk of severe coronavirus cases and deaths among the elderly, while also reducing strain on the health care system, a Communist Party source said earlier this month.
Many foreign companies have become reluctant to boost direct investment in China in the face of its drastic COVID-19 regulations, which involve lockdowns, quarantines, and strict surveillance by health authorities.
In September, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a position paper that inbound investment flows from the regional bloc to the Asian country has been declining.
European companies operating in China are "increasingly weighing up the possibility of shifting planned or future investments to other markets that are perceived to provide greater reliability and predictability."
Shanghai, the country's commercial and financial hub with a population of 25 million, was under lockdown for about two months through late May, disrupting domestic supply chains and logistics operations.
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