China's economy in the January-March period grew a real 4.5 percent from a year earlier, official data showed Tuesday, with the pace of expansion accelerating from the previous quarter as the nation's stringent "zero-COVID" policy officially ended earlier this year.

The growth in inflation-adjusted gross domestic product of the world's second-largest economy picked up from 2.9 percent in the previous three months, but fell short of a 2023 target growth figure of around 5 percent revealed last month.

The National Bureau of Statistics said the country's economy "showed a steady recovery and made a good start" in the first three months of 2023 as its COVID-19 curbs "shifted to the new phase in a rapid and steady way" and multiple policies to stabilize growth, employment and prices "took effect early on."

China's National Bureau of Statistics holds a press conference in Beijing on April 18, 2023. (Kyodo)  

But it warned the foundation for economic recovery is "not solid yet" as conditions abroad are "still complex and volatile," and "inadequate domestic demand remains prominent."

China's economy was battered last year by the economic fallout from its stringent COVID restrictions involving lockdowns and quarantines and a subsequent explosion of coronavirus infections that occurred when the measures were abruptly eased in December.

In 2022, China's GDP expanded 3.0 percent from a year earlier -- one of the slowest paces of growth in several decades -- missing the initial goal of around 5.5 percent.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, China's GDP in the January-March period increased 2.2 percent from the previous quarter.

During the first three months of 2023, industrial production in China grew 3.0 percent from a year earlier, while retail sales of consumer goods rose 5.8 percent and investment in fixed assets, excluding rural households, increased 5.1 percent.

Real estate development declined 5.8 percent, with the sector still affected by a crisis hitting major property developer China Evergrande Group.

At a National People's Congress session in March, the leadership of President Xi Jinping mapped out measures to spur domestic demand and boost the economic recovery.

Fu Linghui, the statistics bureau spokesman, said at a press conference Tuesday weak domestic demand is constraining the economic recovery.

Looking ahead, China's economy may register faster growth in the April-June quarter despite worries of a global economic slowdown after it was hit by a two-month lockdown in Shanghai, the country's commercial and financial hub with a population of 25 million, in the corresponding quarter last year.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund left unchanged its 2023 growth forecast for China at 5.2 percent, noting its economic reopening from strict lockdown measures will likely continue this year.