'Good start' for Chinese economy in Q1: economic planner

BEIJING - There is sufficient evidence that the Chinese economy had "a good start" in the first quarter, said Zhao Chenxin, spokesperson of the National Development and Reform Commission on Wednesday.

The positive changes were in investment growth, steady prices, rising business profits, a warming property market and higher fiscal revenue, according to Zhao.

Fixed-asset investment grew 10.2 percent year-on-year in the first two months and the growth rate was 0.2 percentage point higher than the annual growth in 2015, he said.

The consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.3 percent year-on-year in March, unchanged from February. On a month-on-month basis, the producer price index, a measure of costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 0.5 percent from February, up from February's 0.3-percent fall and the first month-on-month rise since January 2014, he added.

Profits of major industrial firms rose 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first two months, reversing last year's downward trend, he said.

Sales of residential property jumped 28.2 percent in terms of floor space and 43.6 percent in terms of revenue in the first two months year on year, up 21.7 percentage points and 29.2 percentage points respectively from last year, he noted.

Fiscal revenue rose 6.3 percent year-on-year in the first two months, the highest since January last year, Zhao said.

The purchasing managers' index came in at 50.2 in March, up from February's 49, the highest since last August, Zhao added.

He made the remarks at a routine press conference ahead of the release of key economic data on Friday.