China's Q1 GDP grows 5.4% y/y, beating expectations

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy grew 5.4% year-on-year in the first quarter, data showed on Wednesday, beating expectations, but an escalating trade war with the United States has darkened the outlook and raised pressure on Beijing to roll out more stimulus.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) to expand 5.1% from a year earlier, slowing from 5.4% in the previous three months.

Beijing is aiming for economic growth of "around 5%" this year, a goal analysts say is ambitious given a protracted property downturn, sluggish domestic demand and U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods.

On a quarter-to-quarter basis, GDP expanded 1.2% in the January-to-March period, below expectations for a 1.4% rise and compared with a 1.6% increase in the previous quarter.

Authorities have repeatedly said China has ample policy room to underpin growth, and have vowed to lower interest rates and cut the reserve requirement ratio - the amount of cash banks have to keep in reserve - at an appropriate time.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao and Yukun Zhang; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

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