China’s economic growth hit 11.1 per cent in the first quarter, driven by a swelling trade surplus and strong consumption, fuelling concerns that the government may take further tightening measures to rein in the economy.
Li Xiaochao, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said Thursday that China’s gross domestic product reached Rmb5,030bn ($652bn) in the first three months of the year, as the growth rate picked up 0.7 percentage points from the last quarter of 2006.
