China’s economic activity cooled more than expected at the start of the fourth quarter, with an unprecedented slump in investment and slower growth in industrial output adding to a drag from sluggish consumption.
Industrial production climbed 4.9 percent last month from a year earlier, according to data released by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics yesterday, down from 6.5 percent in September.
The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey was for an increase of 5.5 percent.
Photo: AFP
Fixed-asset investment shrank 1.7 percent in the first 10 months of the year, a record decline for the period.
Capital spending on infrastructure barely increased and growth in manufacturing outlays slowed, while property investment slid further.
Retail sales gained 2.9 percent, slowing for the fifth straight month in the longest such streak since 2021.
The surveyed urban unemployment rate dropped slightly to 5.1 percent.
“The economy is facing quite a few challenges given the multiple unstable and uncertain factors in the external environment and rather big pressure on economic restructuring within the country,” the bureau said in a statement accompanying the data release.
Officials would “actively facilitate the implementation” of existing policies, it said, likely suggesting that Beijing is not yet in a hurry to provide more help for the economy.
The market had a muted reaction to the disappointing data, with the yuan and Chinese government bonds trading little changed.
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