China economy suffering new problems as retail sales, industrial output slowed in April

Retail sales and industrial production grew by 17.1 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively in April from a year earlier

Fixed asset investment grew by 19.9 per cent in the January-April period, while the surveyed jobless rate stood 5.1 per cent in April from 5.3 per cent in March

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Retail sales and industrial production grew by 17.1 per cent and 9.8 per cent respectively in April from a year earlier. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 10:26am, 17 May 2021Updated: 12:00pm, 17 May 2021

China’s industrial output grew 9.8 per cent in April from a year ago, slower than the 14.1 per cent surge in March, official data showed on Monday.

That matched a 9.8 per cent year on year rise in a consensus forecast by analysts from a Reuters poll.

Retail sales rose 17.7 per cent year on year in April, much weaker than a 24.9 per cent uptick expected by analysts and down from the 34.2 per cent jump seen in March.

Fixed asset investment increased 19.9 per cent in the first four months from the same period a year earlier, versus a forecast 19.0 per cent rise, slowing from January-March’s 25.6 per cent increase.

The surveyed jobless rate stood 5.1 per cent in April from 5.3 per cent in March.

“Year-on-year growth on all indicators dropped back last month. This partly reflects a less flattering base for comparison. But current momentum in output and consumption was also a bit softer. We think month-on-month growth will remain modest throughout the rest of this year as activity drops back to its pre-virus trend following the withdrawal in policy support,” said Julian Evans-Pritchard, senior China economist at Capital Economics.