Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) of Columbia University's Earth Institute, speaks during a press conference on the Deep Decarbonization Pathway Project (DDPP) interim report , at the UN headquarters in New York, on July 8, 2014. (Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)

The recovery of sales of autos and homes in China last month reflects that "middle-class and wealthy consumers have both sufficient money and enough confidence in the future to spend it."

WASHINGTON, July 19  -- Several U.S. economists have been encouraged by the rebound of the Chinese economy, as recent data indicated that the Asian country is the first major economy to get out of the COVID-19-induced recession.

"This is very encouraging news. The control of the epidemic made possible the recovery in the second quarter," Jeffrey Sachs, a renowned economics professor at Columbia University, told Xinhua via email. "In our world today, good public health is the key to good economic outcomes."

China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 3.2 percent year on year in the second quarter, following a 6.8 percent contraction in the first quarter, according to newly released data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Nicholas Lardy, a senior fellow at Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), told Xinhua in a recent phone interview that China's industrial sector has been recovering "most rapidly," while the service sector has also seen expansion, with the country "doing stunningly well" on the trade side.

Retail sales, which are only slightly down in June compared with the same month last year, have done "extremely well" compared with other economies and "improved dramatically," the veteran China watcher noted.

"I think we'll see further recovery in retail sales, which will contribute to the growth of the service sector," Lardy said.