As forecast, China’s economic growth slowed in the three months to June to an annual rate of 6.2% – a 27-year low.
According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, it was the slowest since the first quarter of 1992 when the earliest quarterly data was available.
The data tells us that the economy is still growing, but not as fast as in previous years.
In the first quarter, China’s GDP grew 6.4% from a year earlier but quarter on quarter GDP growth accelerated to a rate of 1.7% from 1.4% in the March quarter
The lower reading is in line with its 2019 annual economic growth target at 6.0% to 6.5% for 2019. Growth for the full year should be around 6.2% to 6.3%.
Partly offsetting the confirmed slowdown was stronger-than-expected gains in June factory output and retail sales.
Industrial output climbed 6.3% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, up from May’s 17-year low of 5.0% and better than the market forecast for 5.2% growth.
That lift is at odds with the reading from the two manufacturing activity surveys for June.
They both showed the sector in a slight contractionary phase – but the rise in output revealed yesterday tells a different story.
Fixed-asset investment for the first half of the year rose 5.8% from a year earlier, compared with a 5.5% increase forecast by analysts.
Retail sales for June rose 9.8%, topping expectations for a slight fall to 8.3%.
Sales of automobiles surged 17.2% in the month, accelerating from a 2.1% gain in May, but sales fell for the 12 months in a row, down 9.6% suggesting a build up of unsold vehicles.
