April data confirm recovery is uneven

Persistent pressures, weak demand spark calls for fresh stimulus steps

China's economy continued to rebound in April while pressures persisted amid an uneven recovery, highlighting the need for further stimulus measures to consolidate the recovery trend, officials and experts said on Friday.

"Chinese economy continued to recover in April with improvement in key indicators including industrial production, while the broader economy is still facing challenges from a more complicated external environment, mounting uncertainties, lack of effective domestic demand, operational pressures on enterprises and potential risks," said Liu Aihua, a spokeswoman for the National Bureau of Statistics.

She told a news conference in Beijing on Friday that more efforts will be made to better implement the existing policies and further consolidate the economic recovery trend.