{"id":114863,"date":"2021-05-21T22:19:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T22:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/?p=114863"},"modified":"2021-05-21T22:19:03","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T22:19:03","slug":"china-industrial-output-fixed-asset-investment-growth-moderates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fin2me.com\/business\/china-industrial-output-fixed-asset-investment-growth-moderates\/","title":{"rendered":"China Industrial Output, Fixed Asset Investment Growth Moderates"},"content":{"rendered":"
China’s industrial production as well as fixed asset investment growth moderated, while growth in retail sales eased sharply in April as the initial boost from the relaxation of coronavirus<\/span> containment measures in March faded.<\/p>\n Data published by the National Bureau of Statistics, on Monday, showed that industrial production grew 9.8 percent year-on-year in April, slower than the 14.1 percent increase in March but it in line with economists’ expectations. <\/p>\n Retail sales climbed 17.7 percent annually, much slower than the 34.2 percent increase seen in March and the economists’ forecast of 24.9 percent. <\/p>\n During January to April, fixed asset investment expanded 19.9 percent compared to 25.6 percent in three months to March. Economists were expecting an increase of 19 percent.<\/p>\n Likewise, growth in property investment slowed in January to April period to 21.6 percent from 25.6 percent.<\/p>\n The surveyed unemployment rate fell to 5.1 percent in April from 5.3 percent in the previous month.<\/p>\n Looking ahead, the rebound in consumption should gather pace again in the coming months as the labor market continues to tighten, Julian Evans-Pritchard, an economist at Capital Economics, said.<\/p>\n However, the economist said the current strength of investment spending is unlikely to be sustained for long given the recent withdrawal in policy support and slowdown in credit growth.<\/p>\n Chinese economic data for April all fell short of expectations but this is not a cause for concern yet, Hao Zhou and Marco Wagner, economists at Commerzbank, said. This suggests that economic growth as well as policy support measures are gradually normalizing.<\/p>\n The government targets to achieve above 6 percent economic growth for the whole year of 2021. <\/p>\n