Hong Kong —
China said its economy expanded by 5.0% in the first three months of the year, exceeding expectations, as the Iran war upends global trade but warned it faced “volatile” external conditions.
The world’s second largest economy is the first major country to report first quarter Gross Domestic Product growth after the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran in late February. The US will report its figures at the end of April.
The 5% increase reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is an acceleration from the 4.5% growth reported in the final quarter of last year.
Despite an acceleration in growth propelled by strong exports…