BEIJING, April 11 (UPI) -- China's jump in March imports, resulting in a trade deficit of $884 million, is seen by officials and analysts as helping spur domestic demand.
"The better-than-forecast imports signal the unleashing of domestic demand, and China's economic growth will significantly pick up from the second quarter," Chen Hufei, a researcher at Bank of Communications, told China Daily. "Imports will keep expanding this year as the government rebalances foreign trade, and the trade surplus is likely to narrow."
Official data show imports in March rose 14.1 percent year-on-year to $183.07 billion, while March exports were up 10 percent to $182.19 billion.
The March numbers raised officials' confidence they can achieve the country's trade growth target of 8 percent this year, China Daily reported Thursday. China is now the world's second-largest economy after the United States.
Though the trade deficit for the month was the first in more than a year, the overall monthly trade figures showed a gain of 12.1 percent year-on-year.
Chinese policymakers have been seeking to reduce the economy's reliance on exports, which have been affected by the global slowdown, and instead boost domestic demand to spur growth, which hit a 13-year low of 7.8 percent last year after decades of double-digit numbers.
