China’s economy is showing signs of extending a slowdown with a slump in industrial output and retail sales in July, adding to pressure on Beijing to intervene with measures to support activity. After the world’s second largest economy posted one of its lowest quarterly growth readings on record in the three months to June, the latest figures suggest it continued to falter in July. Factory output grew 4.5% from a year earlier last month, compared with 5.3% in June, official figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday, missing a poll forecast for 4.8% growth.
Separate figures showed retail sales grew 0.6%, a slowdown from a 1% rise in June despite summer holiday tourism spending. Forecasters had predicted 1.5%. The NBS said extreme weather, including high temperatures and heavy rainfall, had disrupted market supply and demand.
The latest snapshot, however is likely to increase pressure on policymakers to accelerate plans for tax and spending measures to support activity. China’s premier, Li Qiang, suggested on Monday that efforts to bolster overseas demand for goods could be used to make up for weak domestic demand. The rate, which came in under the government’s target of 4.5% to 5%, was one of the weakest since Beijing began reporting official quarterly GDP data in the early 1990s.
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