China has sustained sound momentum of economic recovery in April as evidenced by the steady expansion of major economic indicators, according to the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator on the supply side, went up 5.6 percent year-on-year in April, expanding by 1.7 percentage points from the level in March, according to data from the NBS.

On the demand side, the retail sales of consumer goods – a major gauge for consumption - rose 18.4 percent year-on-year during the same period, data revealed.

China's service production index surged by 13.5 percent year-on-year in April, 4.3 percentage points faster than that of the previous month, with notable improvements in the contact-and-gathering-based service activities, the NBS data showed.

The consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, edged up 0.1 percent year on year in April. On a monthly basis, the prices were slightly down by 0.1 percent, the NBS said, adding that the core CPI, deducting food and energy prices, was up by 0.7 percent from a year earlier.

China's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent in April, down 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, according to the NBS.

The Chinese economy continues to rebound in April with positive factors on the rise. That said, with the complex and severe international landscape and the insufficient domestic demand, the internal driving force for economic growth remains modest, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a news conference.

Going forward, efforts to bring out the effects of the policies and stimulate the vitality of business entities will be better aligned, and proactive steps will be taken to restore and expand demand, and accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system, to effectively upgrade the quality and appropriately expand the output of Chinese economy, Fu said.

wangkeju@chinadaily.com.cn