China's recovery sputters as consumption, output lose steam
China's economic recovery is slowing as industrial output and retail sales miss expectations due to weak domestic demand and extreme weather. Economists are calling for more aggressive fiscal stimulus to address the cooling growth.
Why it matters
As the world's second-largest economy, China's sluggish performance has significant implications for global trade, investment, and the effectiveness of current fiscal policies.
A worker operates a machinery to clean solar panels at a photovoltaic industrial park in Hami, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China, on Oct 22, 2018. (Photo: REUTERS/Stringer)
BEIJING: China's economy lost momentum at the start of the second half, with industrial output and retail sales slowing as extreme weather disruptions and persistently weak domestic demand renew pressure on policymakers to step up stimulus.
The disappointing data, following second-quarter growth that cooled to a three-and-a-half-year low, highlights China's continued dependence on exports to offset sluggish consumption and investment even as it confronts headwinds from US tariffs and the conflict in the Middle East.
Factory output grew 4.5 per cent from a year earlier last month, compared with 5.3 per cent in June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday, missing a Reuters poll forecast for 4.8 per cent growth.
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