China’s August economic data lacklustre but slower investment growth ‘not caused by trade war’
Growth rate of fixed-asset investment, a key driver of nation’s economy, has been falling for some time, government spokesman says
China’s economy showed new signs of weakness in August, as fixed-asset investment growth continued on its downward trend to a record low, but a government official said the decline had nothing to do with the country’s trade war with the United States.
“Infrastructure investment [growth] has been falling for some time,” Mao Shengyong, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said.
“As local governments continue to launch [new] legally compliant projects, infrastructure investment may stabilise, but based on our estimates, it will be difficult for [investment] growth to rebound.”
Mao was speaking after the release of economic data for August, which showed that fixed-asset investment in the first eight months of the year grew 5.3 per cent from the same period of 2017, which was below analysts’ forecasts of 5.5 per cent and slower than the 5.5 per cent growth recorded for the first seven months.
After halting major construction projects in 2017, China has this year sought to bolster its cooling economy and counter the pressure from tariffs on its exports to the US by boosting investment in infrastructure projects. But the move was not going to make a significant difference to overall investment, Mao said.
Betty Wang, senior China economist at ANZ, said that the continued weakness in infrastructure investment was a major factor putting downward pressure on total investment growth in August.