LONDON, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- China's economy continued to witness a robust and broadening recovery in the third quarter (Q3) this year amid the coronavirus pandemic, British media reported Monday.
Earlier in the day, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the country's gross domestic product (GDP) surged by 4.9 percent year-on-year in Q3, further faster than the 3.2-percent growth seen in Q2.
"China's economy expanded 4.9 percent year on year in the third quarter as industrial growth powered the country's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic," said the Financial Times (FT).
"Industrial production in China leapt 6.9 percent in September -- its highest level this year and the same rate as in December before the coronavirus outbreak," said the FT.
The recovery in the world's second-largest economy now shows signs of extending to consumption at a time when global growth remains under severe pressure, the FT commented.
Major indicators showed across-the-board improvements in the Chinese economy, with industrial output rising 5.8 percent while retail sales reporting the first quarterly expansion, up 0.9 percent year-on-year in Q3, the NBS said.
"China is now leading the charge for a global recovery based on its latest gross domestic product (GDP) data," said the BBC, indicating that the near 5 percent growth is "a far cry from the slump the Chinese economy suffered at the start of 2020."
Robin Brant, BBC's China correspondent, said China's economy continues to "grow at rates unimaginable in other COVID-hit countries."
Noting that China continues its economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, British think tank Oxford Economics said "the pick-up was underpinned by strength in industry, which in turn was driven by robust investment and exports."
In the first three quarters, the country's GDP expanded 0.7 percent year on year, returning to growth after the 1.6-percent contraction in the first half of the year and the 6.8-percent slump in Q1, said the Chinese national statistical body.
"China is likely to be the sole major economy in the world to register positive growth this year," Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University, was quoted by the FT as saying.
Prasad's prediction has echoed the the latest economic outlook released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday last week, which forecasted that China's economy would grow by 1.9 percent this year.
Kristalina Georgieva, IMF's managing director, said at a virtual press conference last week that China's growth amid the COVID-19 pandemic "is a positive impulse for the world economy" and could especially benefit commodity exporters and countries that are connected to the Chinese economy through global value chains.