China to release 1st quarter GDP figures

China is due to release its first quarter GDP figure, together with other key economic data on Thursday. These include the Consumer Price Index, Purchasing Manager's Index, industrial output and fixed-asset investment.

These figures will help policy makers determine the next move, and whether an interest rate hike is necessary at the moment. Some analysts are expecting China's GDP for the first quarter to grow as much as 12 percent from a year earlier. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the increase was 10.7 percent.