Numbers from August showed China’s slowdown is deepening just as risks for the global economy mount, piling pressure on the authorities to do more to support growth, said Bloomberg.
Industrial output rose 4.4% from a year earlier in August, the lowest for a single month since 2002, while retail sales came in below expectations. Fixed-asset investment slowed to 5.5% in the first eight months, with the private sector lagging state investment for the 6th month.
The slowdown in output was almost across the board, with food processing and general equipment manufacturing unchanged from last year. Car output rose after declining for four months. Growth in sales of consumer goods slowed to 7.2%, the lowest since April this year, but there was an increase in food sales. The unemployment rate fell to 5.2% from 5.3% in July, within the narrow band it has occupied all year even amid the slowdown.
The data add support to the argument that policy makers’ efforts to brake the slowing economy aren’t sufficient as the nation grapples with structural downward pressure at home, the risk of yet-higher tariffs on exports to the US and now surging oil prices, reported Bloomberg. Nomura International Ltd. said this all raises the likelihood that the People’s Bank of China will cut its medium-term lending rate on Tuesday.
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