Pictured is a shopping mall in Hangzhou, China, on September 9, 2024.
Noor Photo | Noor Photo | Getty Images
BEIJING – China's retail sales, industrial output and urban investment in August all grew slower than expected, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Saturday.
Retail sales rose 2.1% in August from a year earlier, below expectations for 2.5% growth among economists polled by Reuters. It was also slower than the 2.7% increase in July.
Industrial production rose 4.5% in August from a year earlier, below a Reuters forecast for 4.8% growth. That also slowed from a 5.1% rise in July.
Fixed-asset investment rose 3.4 percent in the January-August period, slower than expectations for 3.5 percent growth.
The urban unemployment rate was 5.3% in August, up from 5.2% in July.
Among fixed-asset investment, infrastructure and manufacturing growth slowed year-on-year in August from July. Investment in real estate fell 10.2% in the year to August, the same rate of decline as in July.
“We must be aware that the negative impacts from changes in the external environment are increasing,” the office said in an English-language statement, adding that “sustainable economic recovery still faces multiple difficulties and challenges.”
This weekend, Saturday will be a working day in China instead of Monday as a public holiday. The country is scheduled to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival, from Sunday to Tuesday. The next and final major public holiday in China this year will be in early October.
Growth in the world’s second-largest economy has slowed after a disappointing recovery from Covid-19. Policymakers have yet to announce broad-based stimulus, acknowledging that domestic demand is insufficient.
Other data released last week highlighted continued weakness in consumption.
Customs data showed imports rose just 0.5 percent in August from a year earlier, below expectations. Exports rose 8.7 percent, beating expectations.
Beijing's consumer price index for August also missed analysts' expectations of a 0.6% rise from a year earlier.
