August’s spending data continued to cast an overall gloomy overhang on China’s economic growth, with fixed asset investment growing at its slowest pace ever.
Domestic spending remained weak last month, according to official data. Fixed investment growth, a key indicator of demand levels, stood at just 5.3% year-on-year over the first eight months of 2018, falling beneath the market expectations of 5.6%.
In August itself, there was a slight rebound from July’s 3.0% y/y growth to 4.1%, but this is still well below previous months and the end of 2017.
There was some good news, however, from industrial sales for exports which picked up to 12.5% y/y from 8.7%, while investment in agriculture and services and retail sales all accelerated last month.