There is good news and bad news for the Chinese authorities in the leaked economic data for May published today by Reuters which have sent markets around the world into a flurry of excitement.

The good news is that there are few signs Europe’s financial crisis has had much impact on China’s exports, which Reuters reported rose by 50 per cent last month, year-on-year, well above a forecast increase of 30 per cent. Of course, this could just be delayed reaction: many goods might already have been ordered before Europe’s situation worsened. But still, plenty of cause for optimism about China’s expected export recovery.

The bad news is that inflation was higher again at 3.1 per cent, according to Reuters, breaking the government’s 3 per cent annual target, while another month of heavy net bank lending of Rmb630bn could suggest the authorities are struggling to rein in loose monetary policy.

The interesting side-effect of the leaked numbers is that, as Mark Williams at Capital Economics argues, they “draw attention back to China’s stalled currency policy reforms“.