bbc.co.uk/news/business-22445227

China's trade growth accelerated in April, beating analyst expectations, a positive sign for the country's fragile economic recovery.

Exports surged by 14.7% compared with a year earlier. That is up from 10% in March. Imports also rose by 16.8% up from 14.1%.

The data meant a trade surplus for China, reversing a surprise deficit in March.

However, some analysts raised questions about the accuracy of the data.

"I have no strong conviction whether the data reflect reality," said Zhiwei Zhang, chief China economist at Nomura in Hong Kong.

In recent months Chinese export data have shown positive signs of a gradual recovery in external demand.

But that is not in line with other Asian exporter countries such as South Korea and Taiwan where global demand has remained weak.

Some analysts said they suspected exporters may be overstating their business to avoid capital restrictions on funds they are bringing into the country.

"China's SAFE recently launched new rules to crack down against capital inflows disguised as trade payments. I'm suspicious about the trade data," Mr Zhang said, referring to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

On Sunday, regulators tightened limits on the amount of yuan that banks can hold in an attempt to crack down on cash flows into China.

Analysts pointed out that the purchasing managers index survey last week showed that growth in China's huge factory sector slowed in April as new export orders shrank.

Most pointed to that data as a sign that the economic recovery could be delayed.

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