PATTAYA, Thailand, April 11 (Reuters) - China's annual industrial output growth accelerated to 8.3 percent in March, picking up from a record low of 3.8 percent in the first two months of the year, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Saturday.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected 6.0 percent annual growth in industrial production in March. [ID:nPEK325406]
Wen, speaking to reporters in Thailand's seaside resort Pattaya on the sidelines of a summit of Asian leaders, said that annual industrial production growth for the entire first quarter exceeded 5 percent.
The statistics agency gave a combined January-February figure for industrial output growth to smooth out distortions caused by the timing of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which fell in January this year but in February last year. (Reporting by John Ruwitch; Writing by Jason Subler; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)