The Chinese trade surplus increased by 75% in one year, reaching 35.92 billion USD, due to rising exports and fall in imports. The exports of the second largest economy in the world grew by 7% in May, to 195.47 billion, while imports fell by 1.6% to 159.55 billion USD. Economists had estimated that imports would rise by 6%.

Analysts foretold that the surplus was expected to reach 23.4 billion USD. However, the economic growth in China fell to 7.4% in the first quarter, the lowest level in 18 months.
Foreign trade data was alarming during the period between January and April, as the country suddenly had a trade deficit of about 23 billion on February, for the first time in a year.

Ruling out the possibility to implement a large recovery plan in early April, Beijing announced a series of stimulus measures that included tax breaks for small businesses and investments in the rail network.