China’s manufacturing expanded for a second month as government stimulus spending stoked a fledgling recovery in the world’s third-biggest economy.
The Purchasing Manager’s Index rose to a seasonally adjusted 53.5 last month from 52.4 in March, the Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said yesterday in Beijing in an e-mailed statement. A reading above 50 indicates an expansion.
“The worst is already behind China,” said Sun Mingchun (孫明春), an economist at Nomura Holdings Inc in Hong Kong. “Domestic strength should outweigh the tougher external environment.”
In the manufacturing data, the output index rose to 57.4 from 56.9 in March, the new order index climbed to 56.6 from 54.6 and the export order index increased to 49.1 from 47.5.
Signs that the Chinese economy is reviving because of the government’s 4 trillion yuan (US$586 billion) stimulus package include a 30 percent increase in urban fixed-asset investment in March from a year earlier. New loans more than tripled to a record 4.58 trillion yuan in the first quarter. Growth in industrial output accelerated in March.
In yesterday’s numbers, the employment index climbed to 50.3 from 48.6 in March. The overall manufacturing index has gained for five months after falling in November to its lowest level since the data began in 2005.
The latest numbers show that “China’s economy will continue to recover,” Zhang Liqun (張立群), an economist at the State Council Development and Research Center, said in a statement released with the data.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs said in a note that the latest figure “sends a clear signal that real economic activity growth has been improving on a sequential basis from its trough last November.”
Goldman Sachs said the Chinese economy will grow 8.3 percent this year even as countries from the US to Japan are mired in recessions.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue