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TORONTO — Hundreds of thousands of people stream in each month to the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto, its chief executive says, as galloping inflation continues to squeeze Canadians' grocery budgets.

"We are absolutely in a food crisis in this country and certainly in the city of Toronto," Neil Hetherington said in a recent AFP interview.

His organisation saw the number of people using its services double during the COVID-19 pandemic to an average of 120,000 per month, which continued to rise to a record 270,000 in March.

Of the newcomers to the 128 food banks across the Toronto area affiliated with Daily Bread, many have full-time jobs but still can't seem to make ends meet, Hetherington said as volunteers sorted through donations at its depot in a suburb of Toronto.

Although overall inflation has cooled to 4.3 per cent in March from a peak of 8.1 per cent last June, food inflation remains stubbornly high at around 10 per cent year over year.

Hetherington noted that accommodations — both rentals and homes for sales — are also out of reach of many Canadians after a jump in real estate prices last year, compounding cost-of-living woes.

According to a report by the real estate firm Urbanation, the average cost of a studio apartment in Canada's largest city is 2,124 Canadian dollars ($1,568) per month, up about 380 Canadian dollars from last year.

'Can't live without food' 

Ryan Patcheson said he started coming to the food bank 18 months ago. He receives disability benefits but says it's not enough to live on.

"It makes a world of difference when you get a couple of bags of rice at the end of the month and some potatoes" from a food bank, Patcheson, who is in his thirties, told AFP.

Visitors to food banks in Montreal echoed that sense of despair and need, with long queues for handouts observed at the Saint-Gilbert church. Its basement is used by the Association Alerte-Providence to distribute food on Wednesdays.

"Demand has been increasing every week" for its services, says Paula Alerte, who has run the association for over three decades and started the food bank about 10 years ago.

She says that donations are not always enough, so she sometimes buys bulk foods herself to distribute to clients.

"I understand that everything is more expensive but we can't live without food." "The need is there," she said, pausing to hand out bags of food before adding: "Every Wednesday, I worry about not having enough for everyone."

The lineup of mostly young people, retirees and immigrants at the church moves slowly.

"Prices for everything have shot up," lamented shopper Luis Lara, 66. "You can't afford to buy as much as you used to from the supermarket anymore."

"Vegetables are really too expensive for me at grocery stores, so I come here," says Sofiia Slobodianiuk, a 20-year-old Ukrainian national who recently landed in Canada and was making her first visit to a food bank.

STRASBOURG — The European Parliament approved the world's first comprehensive rules to regulate the "Wild West" world of cryptocurrencies on Thursday, hoping to protect investors against abuse and manipulation.

EU member states have already backed the legislation covering cryptoassets, which include cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum and other tradable tokens whose value is secured using blockchain technology, such as NFTs.

The rules, now approved by a large majority of European lawmakers, hope to whip into shape an industry that has been beset by scandals and failures.

One of the most recent cryptocurrency exchange failures came in November when the FTX platform and its sister trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt, dissolving a virtual trading business that at one point had a market value of $32 billion.

The EU commissioner for financial services, Mairead McGuinness, said during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday that the rules would have regulated FTX's activities and perhaps prevented its collapse at great cost to some investors.

Under the regulation known as Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), cryptoasset service providers (CASPs) must protect customers' digital wallets and will be liable if they lose investors' cryptoassets.

"We believe that had FTX, for example, been captured under EU jurisdiction, many of its practices would not have been permissible under MiCA," McGuinness said in Strasbourg.

Large providers will also have to disclose their energy consumption as part of the EU's efforts to reduce cryptocurrencies' high carbon footprint.

A second regulation on fund transfers will lead to greater oversight of cryptoassets trades, bringing it more closely into line with practices traditional finance.

The EU says this will make it harder for criminals to use cryptocurrencies for illegal activity such as money laundering.

The regulations "mark the end of the Wild West era for the unregulated world of cryptoassets", Ernest Urtasun, one of the EU lawmakers spearheading the legislation through parliament, said during the debate.

"For over a decade, the lack of regulation has resulted in massive losses to many first-time investors and provided a safe haven for fraudsters and international criminal networks," he added.

Creating 'safer environment' 

Some have, however, criticised the draft legislation for not going far enough.

"In line with the principle of proportionality, significant CASPs should be subject to both stricter requirements and enhanced supervision: neither of the two is catered for by MiCA," Elizabeth McCaul, European Central Bank supervisory board member, wrote in a blog post this month.

There have also been claims that the regulation would block innovation but McGuinness dismissed the suggestion.

"What we believe is that having a regulatory framework allows the industry to evolve in a more cohesive and safer environment," she said.

She added that she hoped the rules would become a model for other countries.

The rules will progressively come into force from July 2024 after EU member states formally nod them into law. 

The EU is also preparing to introduce proposals for a digital euro later this year.

LONDON — Global stock markets retreated Wednesday as traders digested stubbornly high UK inflation and mulled central bank moves in the fight against rampant consumer prices.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index slid after official data stoked expectations of another interest-rate hike from the Bank of England (BoE) that could weigh further on the economy.

Britain's annual CPI inflation rate slowed in March but held above 10 per cent on soaring food prices, further fuelling a cost-of-living crisis in Britain.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt and Paris lapsed into negative territory after a largely downbeat session in Asia.

World oil prices shed two per cent on fears the US Federal Reserve (Fed) could also hike rates sharply again, in turn denting demand for crude.

Souring the mood 

"Stubbornly high inflation soured the mood," noted Russ Mould, investment director at stockbroker AJ Bell.

"News that UK CPI remains in double-digits will only strengthen the argument for the Bank of England to keep pushing up interest rates."

The BoE has hiked rates 11 times since late 2021 in an unsuccessful bid to keep inflation close to a 2 per cent target.

Higher borrowing costs have exacerbated the UK's cost-of-living crisis, ramped up loans for businesses and consumers alike and dampened activity.

Later on Wednesday, markets will focus on US earnings from electric carmaker Tesla and bank Morgan Stanley.

Wall Street had flatlined on Tuesday, leaving traders to scrutinise mixed earnings from major US lenders.

Analyst Stephen Innes, of SPI Asset Management, said investors were also dwelling on the Fed's outlook.

"Global traders have seemingly moved into defensive mode as the debate goes on whether the Fed is at the top of its hiking cycle," Innes noted.

That debate remained far from settled, with some analysts warning that certain investors' apparent confidence in coming rate cuts was misplaced.

China 

Investors also mulled the health of the Chinese economy, with data Tuesday showing it expanded a forecast-busting 4.5 per cent in January-March.

That was the first quarter it has been unencumbered by growth-sapping zero-COVID restrictions.

The jump was helped by a surge in retail sales in March, but while the readings were healthy, other figures on industrial output and fixed-asset investment came in below par, pointing to an uneven recovery.

AMMAN — Applications are now open in Jordan for the 2023 edition of the HYPERLINK "https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/everywhere-initiative/initiative.html"Visa Everywhere Initiative (VEI), a global open innovation competition that sees startups pitch their innovative solutions to solve tomorrow’s payment and commerce challenges. 

In addition to monetary prizes, VEI winners gain access and exposure to Visa’s vast networks of partners in the banking, merchant, VC and government sectors. The winners also benefit from receiving recognition from one of the world’s most trusted and valuable brands, according to a statement from the company. 

The Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) finals will be livestreamed on July 27 on HYPERLINK "https://techcrunch.com/sponsor/visa-everywhere-initiative/startups-compete-in-qatar-for-visa-everywhere-initiative-global-finals-event/" \hTechCrunch – a leading online publisher focused on the tech industry and the startup ecosystem. The startup that wins at the CEMEA Regionals will participate in the global finale, which will be held on September 19 at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. 

This year, Visa's VEI CEMEA is set to introduce for the first time an award in the Risk and Security domain - Fintechs Innovating in Risk Excellence, or “FIIRE”, Award. Through this Special Edition, Visa in partnership with Emirates NBD are scouting for global fintech players across fraud management, cybersecurity and credit risk, among others. Following a joint review by Visa and Emirates NBD representatives, the winning Fintech will receive a $25,000 prize and an opportunity to work with Emirates NBD, a leading bank group in the MENAT (Middle East, North Africa and Turkey) region.

“The Visa Everywhere Initiative is a platform that empowers fintechs and entrepreneurs to showcase the most ground-breaking, impactful solutions in the world of payments and commerce,” said, Mario Makary, Country Manager – Levant, Visa.

“Through their technology-driven, innovative solutions, fintechs have the potential to offer broad social benefits to the markets they operate in – particularly when it comes to providing financial services to those who have traditionally been underserved. At Visa, we believe access to the digital economy drives equitable, inclusive growth, and VEI is an important means of supporting the innovators playing a leading role in this space.” Makary added.

Since its launch in 2015, VEI has helped startups representing more than 100 countries collectively raise more than $16 billion in funding, with a network that includes nearly 12,000 startups from across the globe. Last year, VEI awarded more than $530,000 in prize money over the course of the competition, which saw over 4,000 startups participate from five regions. VEI 2022 saw Nigeria’s ThriveAgric take home the VEI Global grand prize of $100,000. ThriveAgric also won the $20,000 Visa Direct prize. 

VEI is seeking innovative and ambitious entrepreneurs who are uplifting communities by solving payment and commerce challenges faced by businesses of all sizes and sectors, the statement said.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to visit the company's official website for additional information regarding the competition. The application deadline for VEI is May 14. 

MUMBAI — Apple opened its first retail store in India on Tuesday, underscoring the US tech titan's increasing focus on the South Asian nation as a key sales market and alternative manufacturing hub to China.

Apple CEO Tim Cook personally opened the doors to welcome customers as staff cheered.

Hundreds of admirers of the iPhone giant queued around the store in a swanky shopping mall in the financial capital Mumbai, some of them waiting overnight.

The California-based firm is betting big on the nation of 1.4 billion people — home to the second-highest number of smartphone users in the world, after China — with a second store to open in the capital Delhi on Thursday.

The world's biggest company in terms of market value is also expanding its manufacturing footprint in India as it seeks to diversify its supply chain away from a heavy dependence on neighbouring China.

Apple called the stores a "major expansion" of its presence in India in a statement on Monday.

"We're excited to build on our longstanding history," Cook said in the statement.

Apple launched its online store in India in 2020, but had not opened an official physical shop until now due to previous investment rules, since relaxed, requiring foreign retailers to source 30 per cent of raw materials locally, and pandemic delays.

Sales and marketing executive Purav Mehta, 30, camped overnight outside the store ahead of the opening, bringing with him his still-unopened 2013 iPod Touch.

"We've been looking forward to it... for a long time we've been waiting for this," he told AFP.

Stationery dealer MadhavMimani, 27, travelled about 900 kilometres from Rajasthan for the event. 

"I think with Apple manufacturing in India, the prices are going to go down because it's local manufacturing, which makes the iPhones affordable," he said. 

"It also increases chances of the Indians buying iPhones made in India because of the sentimental value."

India has more than 600 million smartphone users, with Android devices dominating the price-sensitive market.

Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi, vivo, OPPO and realme had a combined market share of 66 per cent in 2022, according to research firm Canalys, while Samsung held a 19 per cent share.

Apple's iPhones compete in the premium segment of the market and had just a four per cent share last year.

But Canalys analyst SanyamChaurasia told AFP that Apple could benefit from the premiumisation of India's smartphone market and financing schemes for both retailers and consumers.

"Apple is emphasising more on the Indian market because they see more opportunity," he said.

Supply chain 

Cook said in a February earnings call that "India is a hugely exciting market for us and is a major focus".

"We are, in essence, taking what we learned in China years ago and how we scale... and bringing that to bear."

Apple was "putting a significant amount of energy" into India, he added, saying he was "very bullish" on the country.

India is also becoming central to Apple's plans to shift its production of devices and components away from China amid diplomatic tensions between Washington and Beijing and the supply chain fallout from strict COVID policies.

Just 1 per cent of Apple's iPhones were made in India in 2021, but that jumped to 7 per cent last year, Bloomberg News reported last week, citing sources.

The company began manufacturing iPhones in India in 2017 through Taiwanese suppliers Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron.

Foxconn said in March that its chairman had visited India but there was no "definitive agreement" for investments in the country after the chief minister of Karnataka in the south said iPhones would be manufactured in his state.

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia has put a second 4-per cent chunk of shares of the Aramco energy giant, worth tens of billions of dollars, under the control of the country's sovereign wealth fund, state media said Sunday.

The move underscores Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's campaign to use the Gulf kingdom's vast energy resources to open up the economy under his "Vision 2030" domestic reform agenda.

The official Saudi Press Agency said the shares had been transferred to Sanabil Investments, a firm controlled by the kingdom's Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world's biggest sovereign wealth funds with more than $620 billion in assets.

Last year, four percent of Aramco shares, estimated at the time to be worth $80 billion, were transferred directly to PIF.

The latest shares are worth nearly $80 billion, based on the current market capitalisation of Aramco, one of the world's most valuable companies. 

Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler, "indicated that the transfer of part of the state's shares in Saudi Aramco is a continuation of Saudi Arabia's long-term initiatives to boost and diversify the national economy and expand investment opportunities", the report said.

"The transfer will also solidify PIF's strong financial position and credit rating," it added, noting Riyadh still owns 90 per cent of Aramco's shares.

Sanabil's investments "include venture, growth capital and small buyouts", according to its website.

Aramco and its assets were once kept under vice-like government control, off-limits to outside investment.

But under Prince Mohammed the kingdom has shown readiness to cede some of that control.

The oil giant sold 1.7 per cent of its shares on the Saudi bourse in December 2019, generating $29.4 billion in the world's biggest initial public offering.

The firm, which reported record profits totalling $161.1 billion last year, has pledged to achieve "operational net-zero" carbon emissions by 2050. 

That applies to emissions that are produced directly by Aramco's industrial sites, but not the CO2 produced when clients burn Saudi oil in their cars, power plants and furnaces.

Aramco CEO Amin Nasser and other top Saudi officials have simultaneously called for further investment in fossil fuels to ensure global energy security.

The PIF has made high-profile investments in firms including Uber and Disney, and its so-called giga-projects — centrepieces of Prince Mohammed's reform agenda — include Neom, a $500 billion futuristic megacity under construction in the Saudi desert. 

The crown prince has said he wants the fund to have 1 trillion dollars in assets by the end of 2025.

DOHA — Qatar expects more than five million people to visit the Gulf state in 2023 despite a post-World Cup lull, its tourism chief said on Sunday.

Akbar Al Baker, head of Qatar Airways and Qatar Tourism, admitted that hotels had fallen quiet after the World Cup final on December 19.

But he insisted that every World Cup host has the same lull after the tournament and that hotels were still 65-70 per cent full.

Baker told a press conference there were 1.16 million visitors in the first quarter of 2023 and told AFP on the sidelines that he expected "at least" 5 million over the year.

In 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, there were about 2.1 million tourists. By comparison, rival Dubai had more than 14 million tourists in 2022.

As part of a bid to end reliance on its natural gas riches, Qatar has spent billions of dollars on infrastructure for tourism and hosting major sports events.

The government has set a target of 6 million foreign tourists a year by 2030. "I think we will not be too far away from the target" in 2023, Baker told AFP.

"Because of FIFA we built so much infrastructure in the hospitality industry and of course now it is our job to make sure that in the coming months we are making sure that occupancy rates go up."

Qatar, which says there were 1.4 million visitors during the World Cup, is predicting foreign travellers will make up about one third of the three million people expected to attend an international horticultural expo that runs from October 2 until March 28, 2024.

AMMAN — Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the leading international financial hub in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, hosted the second Dubai FinTech Summit (DFS) Dialogues last week.

Heads of 10 leading regional banks and FinTechs were invited to unpack the challenges facing the financial sector and deliberate on how the industry can de-risk and build resilient, sustainable financial institutions, said a statement from the organisers.

According to recent research by Report Ocean, the global fintech lending market was valued at approximately $573.05 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than 27.4 per cent over the forecast period 2022-2029.

Hosting the roundtable, Mohammad Al Blooshi, Head of DIFC Innovation Hub and FinTech Hive, said: “As an industry predicated on confidence and trust, we are currently seeing the banking sector experience a time of disruption. Given global headwinds, we have an opportunity to build more resilient institutions through collaboration between banks and fintechs.”

 “Through conveners such as this roundtable and the first-ever Dubai FinTech Summit in May, we are facilitating dialogue and avenues of collaboration for long-standing financial institutions, regulators and promising entrepreneurs to together map out how the sector can — and should — move forward,” he added.

The fintech sector, widely recognised as a major competitor to banks, is expected to double in size from $135.9 billion in 2021 to $266.9 billion in 2027, according to DIFC FinTech Hive's 2022 FinTech Report.

Additionally, with approximately 50 per cent of the MENA region currently unbanked or underbanked, fintechs have been playing a crucial role in promoting inclusive economic growth in the region.

However, a unanimous takeaway from all banks at the DFS Dialogue captured how both entities are in fact symbiotic.

Sanjay Sethi, Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Transaction Banking at First Abu Dhabi Bank, said: “This is an age of collaboration and co-creation where leading financial institutions and pioneering fintechs can embark on a journey of innovative discovery together. This is especially true when we look at opportunities to expand into new geographies, improve product capabilities, grow revenues, or scale or optimise our business faster and more efficiently. Alongside this, fintech solutions in transaction banking are growing in agility every day. As we look to the future, FAB will continue collaborating with pioneering fintechs to deliver impactful advances across the financial industry.” 

Earlier this year, the UAE Central Bank announced the implementation of its Digital Dirham digital currency strategy, which promises to be a critical step in the country’s payments industry, something that will deeply impact banks, fintechs, businesses, and customers. “As such, the synergy between banks and FinTechs proves to be unavoidable asthe industry inches towards a cashless economy,” added Blooshi. 

Technology: Disrupting and enhancing trust

“As a fintech services provider, the core, as with any tech player is to build an emotional connection with the end consumer,” said Raman Thiagarajan, CEO and Founder, Zenda.

As customers turn to technology, banks have been forced to adapt traditional trust-building to complement the digitisation of banking. Anand Krishnan, Head of Technology, Emirates Investment Bank, said: “It is increasingly important banks continue to invest more in technology that not only builds but maintains trust in customers across their entire journey.”

Google predicts that the financial services and banking industry will emerge as the primary spender forAI technology in the MENA. The industry will make up nearly 25 per cent of all AI investments in the region, with banking tech alone expected to contribute 13.6 per cent to the region’s gross domestic product by 2030.

Mehdi Tazi, Chief Operating Officer, Lean Technologies, stated: “I believe customers still trust banks more than fintechs — they are larger more established institutions. However, something fintechs do very well is streamlining processes when helping onboard customers into these larger banks. As a result, we are seeing a marriage between fintech and banking that enhances the customer’s journey, ultimately building trust.”

The onset of Web 3.0 ushers in a transformative moment for financial services, capital markets and banking, shifting customer expectations and revolutionising the sector. The total transaction value of embedded finance is said to reach $7 trillion in 2026, as per Rakesh Reddy, CEO, Cloud4u. “This is particularly useful for Platform as a Service (PaaS) providers who will strongly benefit from this growth, undeniably becoming a key industry disruptor,” he said.

Nilay Singh, Chief Executive Officer, State Bank of India, DIFC, pointed out: “We cannot ignore AI. It has to be adopted but cleverly and effectively, and this is where we need to understand what to outsource and when to collaborate.”

BERLIN — Germany will switch off its last three nuclear reactors on Saturday, exiting atomic power even as it seeks to wean itself off fossil fuels and manage an energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. 

While many Western countries are upping their investments in atomic energy to reduce their emissions, Germany is bringing an early end to its nuclear age.

Europe's largest economy has been looking to leave behind nuclear power since 2002, but the phase-out was accelerated by former chancellor Angela Merkel in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

The exit decision was popular in a country with a powerful anti-nuclear movement, stoked by lingering fears of Cold War conflict and atomic disasters such as Chernobyl in Ukraine.

"The risks of nuclear power are ultimately unmanageable," said Environment Minister Steffi Lemke, who this week made a pilgrimage to the ill-fated Japanese plant ahead of a G-7 meeting in the country.

But the challenge caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which put an end to cheap gas imports, and the need to quickly cut emissions has upped calls in Germany to delay the withdrawal from nuclear power. 

Greenpeace, at the heart of the anti-nuclear movement, organised a celebratory fete at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to mark the occasion.

"Finally, nuclear energy belongs to history! Let's make this April 15 a day to remember," the organisation said.

In contrast, conservative daily FAZ headlined its Saturday edition "Thanks, nuclear energy," as it listed benefits it said nuclear had brought the country over the years. 

'A mistake' 

Initially planned for the end of 2022, Germany's nuclear exit had already been pushed back once. 

As Russian gas supplies dwindled last year, officials in Berlin were left scrambling to find a way to keep the lights on, with a short extension agreed until mid-April.

Germany, the largest emitter in the European Union, also powered up some of its mothballed coal-fuelled plants to cover the potential gap left by gas.

The challenging energy situation had increased calls domestically for the exit from nuclear to be delayed.

Germany had to "expand the supply of energy and not restrict it any further" in light of potential shortages and high prices, the president of the German chambers of commerce Peter Adrian told the Rheinische Post daily.

The conservative leader of Bavaria Markus Soeder meanwhile told the Focus Online website that he wanted the plants to stay online and three more to be kept "in reserve".

Outside observers have been similarly irked by Germany's insistence on exiting nuclear while ramping up its coal usage, with climate activist Greta Thunberg in October slamming the move as "a mistake". 

'Sooner or later' 

At the Isar 2 complex in Bavaria, technicians will progressively shut down the reactor from 10:00 pm (20:00 GMT) on Saturday, severing it from the grid for good. 

By the end of the day, operators at the other two facilities, in northern Emsland and southwestern Neckarwestheim, will have taken their facilities offline as well.

The three final plants provided just six per cent of Germany's energy last year, compared with 30.8 per cent from all nuclear plants in 1997.

"Sooner or later" the reactors will start being dismantled, Economy Minister Robert Habeck told the Funke group ahead of the scheduled decommissioning, brushing aside the idea of an extension.

The government has the energy situation "under control", Habeck assured, having filled gas stores and built new infrastructure for the import of liquefied natural gas to bridge the gap left by Russian supplies.

Instead, the minister from the Green Party, which was founded on opposition to nuclear power, is focused on getting Germany to produce 80 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2030.

To this end, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for the installation of "four to five wind turbines a day" over the next few years — a tall order given that just 551 were installed last year.

But the current rate of progress on renewables could well be too slow for Germany to meet its climate protection goals.

Despite planning to exit nuclear, Germany has not "pushed ahead enough with the expansion of renewables in the last 10 years", Simon Mueller from the Agora Energiewende think tank told AFP.

To build enough onshore wind capacity, according to Mueller, Germany now has to "pull out all the stops".

BEIJING — China's exports rose in March for the first time in six months, customs data showed Thursday, as the world's second-largest economy continued its recovery following the end of onerous coronavirus curbs late last year.

The 14.8 per cent surge in overseas shipments marked the first since September, according to the General Administration of Customs, and will provide a boost to hopes for a lasting rebound.

Beijing long maintained some of the world's strictest COVID curbs, persisting with snap lockdowns and lengthy quarantines despite their increasingly dire economic consequences.

The government abruptly ditched the restrictions in December, and a wave of cases afflicted the operations of many businesses for several weeks.

Thursday's customs figures contrasted with a poll of analysts conducted by Bloomberg News, who predicted that exports would decline 7.1 per cent.

The sharp uptick was a "positive surprise", said Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management.

However, he added that the sharp rebound "may be partly due to a low base effect", noting that COVID outbreaks in March last year forced many Chinese factories to shut down and restricted operations at the country's ports.

"The other factor behind the strong export growth may be the inventory and order cycles for exporters," Zhang said in e-mailed comments to AFP.

While the torrent of COVID cases in December and January "likely depleted factories' inventories", they are now running at full capacity and have "caught up the cumulated orders from the past", he added.

Imports in March contracted 1.4 per cent, a more moderate pace than in January and February. 

China's economy grew just 3 per cent in 2022 — one of its slowest rates in decades — and the country has set a modest target of "around 5 per cent" for this year.

There is optimism that goal can be reached, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday maintaining its annual growth forecast for China at 5.2 per cent.

China's year-on-year trade with the United States fell 17.4 per cent, and dropped 10 per cent with the European Union, Thursday's figures showed. 

But there was a sharp 25.9 per cent increase in trade with Russia as Moscow focuses on business with its giant neighbour after being hit with sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine. 

"As COVID-19 waves subsided in January of this year, mobility normalised and high-frequency economic indicators — such as retail sales and travel bookings — started picking up," the IMF wrote in its World Economic Outlook report.

"The reopening and growth of [China's] economy will likely generate positive spillovers, with even greater spillovers for countries with stronger trade links and reliance on Chinese tourism," it added. 

Top Chinese leaders have also signalled a focus on recovery, with new Premier Li Qiang last month telling a major economic forum that the country was showing "strong momentum".