China’s economy hit record highs last month as both exports and imports surged.
The Asian giant powered forward again after a setback in July when problems included rising Covid Delta variant infections, higher raw material prices, slowing industrial activity and carbon reduction measures.
But it bounced back strongly in August, according to the AP news agency.
It comes as American multinational conglomerate Amazon also saw a huge surge in sales and announced a huge worldwide recruitment drive after massive growth in the previous 12 months, including 2,500 new posts in the UK.
Exports for the Chinese economy last month climbed by 25.6 per cent to a total of 294 billion dollars, while imports also surged, up 33 per cent at 236 billion dollars, both the highest on record.
According to the reports, China’s figures are still skewed by 2020 and worldwide lockdowns. But the figures have been strong since the turn of the year, where imports rose 34 per cent and 35 per cent respectively, compared with the same period last year.
Its trade with the UK also grew. According to figures from the ONS, data for the first quarter of 2021 has shown China has overtaken Germany to become the UK’s biggest source of goods and supplies.
Meanwhile Amazon says it is looking to hire 55,000 staff globally for corporate jobs and roles in robotics, research and engineering.
The firm says about 40,000 jobs will be in the US, with 2,500 in the UK and the remainder mostly in India, Germany and Japan.
The new UK roles will be available at offices and R&D centres in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Cambridge across a wide range of fields including digital marketing, engineering, video production, AI and machine learning, and more.
Amazon said it has already recruited 10,000 people in the UK this year, bringing the workforce to 55,000.
The firm has announced UK sales had doubled, driven by the pandemic and that it had paid £492m in taxes on sales which rose to £20.63bn.
Reanda UK is a subsidiary of leading independent accountancy firm Grunberg & Co Limited. Our aim is to help businesses and individuals to navigate the UK’s world-renowned business and tax infrastructure, and to support them with their international ambitions. To find out how we can help you, please contact us.