BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s factory output rose 5.1% from a year earlier in July but slowed from the 5.3% pace in June, reflecting languid domestic demand that could prompt more policy support to bolster the country’s patchy economic recovery.
The official data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday missed expectations for a 5.2% increase in a Reuters poll of 42 analysts.
However, retail sales, a gauge of consumption, rose 2.7% in July, quickening from a 2.0% increase in June. Analysts had expected retail sales to grow 2.6%.
Fixed asset investment expanded 3.6% in the first seven months of 2024 from the same period a year earlier, compared with the forecast for a 3.9% rise. It grew 3.9% in the January to June period.
A recent string of dismal indicators point to a rocky start to the second half of the year and have heightened calls for more growth boosting measures for the $19 trillion economy. For now, the government is still targeting economic growth of around 5% for 2024.
(Reporting by Kevin Yao, Joe Cash and Liz Lee; Editing by Sam Holmes)
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