China’s economic growth beat expectations in the first quarter, as factory output led the expansion bolstering expectations the government can hit its ambitious annual target. Gross domestic product increased 5.3% in the January-to-March period from a year earlier, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday. That’s higher than the median estimate of 4.8% in a Bloomberg survey of economists and just above a growth rate of 5.2% in the final quarter of 2023. Other Key Figures From the Data: Industrial production rose 4.5% in March from a year earlier, versus economists’ forecast of 6% Industrial ... (full story)