China’s industrial production declined unexpectedly in April reflecting not only the disruption caused by the Covid-19 lockdown, but also weaker foreign demand. Further, the decrease in retail sales worsened on weak household consumption. <\/p>\n
Industrial production dropped 2.9 percent on a yearly basis, reversing a 5.0 percent fall in March, data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Monday. The decline confounded 0.4 percent rise economists had expected. <\/p>\n
At the same time, retail sales plunged 11.1 percent annually, much worse than the 3.5 percent decrease in March. Economists had forecast a 6.1 percent fall. <\/p>\n
Official data also showed that fixed asset investment during the January to April period advanced 6.8 percent from the same period last year.<\/p>\n
That compared to the expected growth of 7.0 percent. Investment in real estate contracted, while investment in manufacturing logged a robust growth. <\/p>\n
The urban unemployment rate rose to 6.1 percent from 5.8 percent in the previous month. <\/p>\n