Industrial output and retail sales rose in China last month, but the increase from a low base failed to dispel doubts about prospects for growth in the world’s second-biggest economy, reports the Financial Times. Industrial production rose 6.6% year on year, ahead of analysts’ expectations, data showed on Friday. Retail sales rose 10.1%, lower than anticipated. Fixed-asset investment grew 2.9% in the first 11 months of the year.
November’s economic data benefited from weak figures a year earlier, when the country was in the final stages of its three-year zero-COVID policy.
The country’s economic releases have been closely watched as policymakers in Beijing grapple with an array of post-pandemic challenges, including a property sector slowdown and worsening deflation.