Weaker July economic data

By Wang Yanlin | August 12, 2015, Wednesday |

Online Edition

CHINA'S activity data showed renewed signs of economic weakness in July with growth of industrial production, retail sales and fixed-asset investment all moderating, according to the National Bureau of Statistics today.

Industrial production expanded 6 percent from a year earlier last month, down from the pace of 6.8 percent in June to the slowest in four months.

Retail sales rose 10.5 percent to 2.43 trillion yuan (US$378 billion) in July, 0.1 percentage point less than a month ago.

Fixed-asset investment added 11.2 percent to 28.8 trillion yuan in the first seven months, also weakening from the increase of 11.4 percent in the first half of the year.

"The data indicated quite sluggish economic activity and little improvement in the growth momentum," said Liu Ligang, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.

"If the conditions do not change in the coming months, China's economic growth could fall to below 6.5 percent in the third quarter," Liu said.

China's gross domestic product expanded 7 percent in the first six months, just in line with the government's full-year target of 7 percent.

However, there were signs of further weakening in the economy. On Saturday, the General Administration of Customs said foreign trade turned out to be much worse than expected in July with exports declining 8.9 percent and imports falling 8.6 percent.

The official Purchasing Managers' Index, a gauge of operating conditions in mainly state-owned manufacturing companies, landed at 50 in July, down from 50.2 a month ago and indicating industrial activities were on the brink of contraction. Its counterpart for private and export-oriented manufacturing firms, the Caixin PMI, slumped to a two-year low of 47.8.

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Weaker July economic data

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