China retail sales up in New Year after Covid reopening

CHINESE retail sales rebounded in January and February as Beijing abandoned its suffocating zero-Covid policy, reopening borders and ending mandatory quarantine, and the country celebrated the Lunar New Year holiday.

The 3.5% growth, released by the National Bureau of Statistics, came in line with expectations and was much better than the 1.8% drop suffered in December, indicating the world’s number two economy was picking up after years of painful restrictions.