RIYADH: China’s gross domestic product grew 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022, as the economic powerhouse defied forecasts made amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Earlier forecasts from Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs had suggested China’s GDP would not grow beyond 4.4 percent in the first quarter of 2022. Despite the figure, Goldman Sachs is predicting that China"s annual growth for the year will be below the government"s target of 4.5 percent. Chinese home sales plunge Home sales in China plummeted by 29 percent in March, according to a report from Evergrande Group, Bloomberg reported. It stated that the latest Covid outbreak in the nation has negatively impacted property sales in Asia"s biggest economy. Containers skipping Singapore due to delays in China To save time due to delays at Chinese ports, containers and ships are increasingly skipping stopping at Singapore, Asia’s largest refueling hub. According to preliminary data released by Maritime Port Authority, a total of 3,020 ships halted in Singapore for refueling in March 2022, and it was 441 fewer than a year earlier. The Singapore Harbour and its petrochemical plants at sunset (Getty) Chinese gasoline exports rebound China"s gasoline exports jumped in March from the previous two months as refiners strived to ease inventory pressure amid tepid domestic demand, according to data from the General Administration of Customs. The exported volume was nonetheless 26 percent lower than a year earlier, because of cuts to export quotas. China shipped out 1.16 million tons of gasoline last month. That compared with 1.02 million tons in February and 1.56 million tons in March 2021. The daily average in March was 37,419 tons, up from 31,864 in the previous two months, the first to be affected by the quota cuts. Diesel exports reached 670,000 tons in March, which was up from a seven-year low in February but still 76 per cent short of 2.81 million tons a year before. China to step up financial support for industries hit by COVID outbreaks China will step up financial support for industries, firms and people affected by COVID-19 outbreaks, the central bank said on Monday. Authorities will guide financial institutions to expand lending and surrender profits to the real economy, the central bank said in a statement on its website. Financial institutions should appropriately buy local government bonds to support infrastructure investment, the central bank said. (With inputs from Reuters)