China said its GDP was up 3.2% in Q2, compared with a year ago.
Economists polled by Reuters expected a lower growth rate of 2.5% in the quarter.
“The national economy overcame the adverse impact of the epidemic in the first half gradually and demonstrated a momentum of restorative growth and gradual recovery, further manifesting its development resilience and vitality,” said China’s National Bureau of Statistics in a statement on Thursday.
In the past months, the Chinese government announced measures to boost the economy, which included fiscal spending and cuts in lending rates and banks’ reserve requirements — the amount of cash that lenders must hold in reserve.
The country’s GDP in Q1 shrank by 6.8% from a year ago, China’s first GDP drop since 1992 when official quarterly statistics became available.
China also reported improvement in PMI, which ticked up to 50.9 in June from 50.6 in May.
