Reuters reports that National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed that profits at China’s industrial firms grew for the eighth straight month in December, suggesting a sustained recovery as the manufacturing sector rapidly emerged from its COVID-19 slump.

Profits surged 20.1% year-on-year in December to 707.11 billion yuan ($109.40 billion), after rising 15.5% in November.

China is the only major economy in the world to avoid a contraction in 2020, with gross domestic product up 2.3% for the full year, while many countries remain crippled by the pandemic.

For the full year of 2020, annual profits for China’s industrial firms grew 4.1% year-on-year to 6.45 trillion yuan, recovering from a 3.3% on-year decline seen in 2019. It was also quicker than a 2.4% gain seen in January-November.

The profit gains last year were notably driven by the manufacturing sector, which saw margins increase by 7.6%, said Zhu Hong, a senior statistician at the statistics bureau, in a statement published alongside the data.