China’s economic recovery ‘unstable, uneven’ as retail sales, industrial production growth slows

Retail sales and industrial production grew by 8.5 per cent and 6.4 per cent, respectively, in July from a year earlier

Fixed-asset investment grew by 10.3 per cent in the January-July period, while the surveyed jobless rate stood at 5.1 per cent in July, from 5 per cent in June

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Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending in the world’s most populous nation, grew by 8.5 per cent in July, down from the 12.1 per cent increase in June. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 10:00am, 16 Aug 2021Updated: 11:48am, 16 Aug 2021

China’s economic slowdown continued in July, data released on Monday showed, with both industrial production and retail sales falling short of expectations.

Industrial production, a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors, grew by 6.4 per cent in July from a year earlier after a 8.3 per cent rise in June. July’s figure was below the median forecast of the Bloomberg survey for a rise of 7.9 per cent.

Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending in the world’s most populous nation, grew by 8.5 per cent in July, down from the 12.1 per cent increase in June, and below the projection for a 10.9 per cent rise estimated in the Bloomberg survey.

Fixed-asset investment – a gauge of expenditures on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment – grew by 10.3 per cent in the January-July period compared with a year earlier. This was below the median of the Bloomberg survey, which called for an increase of 11.3 per cent. For the January-June period, fixed-asset investment had been up by 12.6 per cent.

“Given the combined impact of sporadic local outbreaks of Covid-19 and natural disasters on the economy of some regions, the economic recovery is still unstable and uneven,” said NBS spokesman Fu Linghui.

“We should not only look at the growth to analyse the economic situation, but also need to look at the overall picture of employment, prices and residential incomes.”

The surveyed jobless rate, an imperfect measurement of unemployment in China which does not include figures for the tens of millions of the nation’s migrant workers, stood at 5.1 per cent in July from 5 per cent in June.