The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector came in at 50.1 in January, up from 47.0 the previous month, returning to expansion territory for the first time since September 2022, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.
The data is one of the first indicators of how the economy has managed since China optimized its COVID-19 strategy and celebrated a week-long holiday that ended on Friday.
Also on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected China's economy will grow by 5.2 percent in 2023, 0.8 percentage points higher than the October 2022 forecast.
The IMF said in a newly released update to its World Economic Outlook report that China’s recent reopening has paved the way for a faster-than-expected recovery of the China's economy.
