China’s key economic activity slows in July

China’s major economic indicators for July showed slower economic growth, as value-added industrial output, retail sales and government-driven infrastructure grew at some of their slowest rates in a decade during July, official data from the showed National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said Caixin.

Value-added industrial output, which measures production at factories, mines and utilities, rose 4.8% year-on-year in July, down from 6.3% growth in the previous month and marking the lowest rate since the January-to-February period in 2009. The Bloomberg median forecast was 6% growth.

Investment in real estate development rose 10.6% from a year earlier in the first seven months of 2019, down from 10.9% growth in the first six months and marking the lowest rate since the whole of 2018, NBS data showed.

Government-driven infrastructure investment rose 3.8% year-on-year in the first seven months of this year, down from 4.1% growth in the first six months, the data showed. The reading hasn’t been this low since the whole of 2018.