January-February readings for China's major economic indicators came in better than expected, despite headwinds amid the challenging external environment and COVID-19 cases at home, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

NBS said the nation's economy sustained steady recovery in the first two months, laying a solid foundation for a good start in the first quarter.

The country's value-added industrial output rose by 7.5 percent year-on-year in the January-February period, 3.2 percentage points higher than in December, NBS said.

Retail sales grew by 6.7 percent in the first two months on a yearly basis, compared with 1.7 percent in December, the bureau said.

Fixed-asset investment rose by 12.2 percent year-on-year in the January-February period, up from 4.9 percent for the whole year of 2021.

The surveyed urban jobless rate came in at 5.5 percent in February, matching the same period last year, the bureau said.

Despite improvements, NBS noted the Chinese economy still faces multiple challenges, saying more efforts are needed to ensure stability while pursuing progress, deepen reforms, expand opening-up and foster high-quality development.