China’s services activity expanded at a faster pace in April, but business manufacturing seemingly slowed a touch, according to the two official surveys of activity across the world’s second-largest economy.
In fact, there was a distinct lack of any snap back in the first month the economy has experienced fewer restrictions because of the pandemic than were in place in February and March.
In fact, the health of the Chinese economy doesn’t look as convincing as it was in December before the pandemic hit the country.
The official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 53.2, from 52.3 in March, China’s National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
The new-orders subindex for the entire non-manufacturing sector, a measure of demand, increased to 52.1 from 49.2 in March while a sub-index measuring employment edged up to 48.6 from 47.7.
Despite the wider recovery in the service sector, business activity for areas such as hotels and entertainment, have stayed below 45.0 for three months in a row, reflecting continued difficulties.
The non-manufacturing PMI covers services such as retail, aviation, software, as well as the real estate and construction sectors.
Beijing is counting on a bounce in the services sector to help revive its economy ravaged by the pandemic. But analysts caution that the recovery will be constrained by weak consumption and sliding global demand as many economies are brought to a standstill by lockdowns to contain the virus.
The official April composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and services activity, rose to 53.4 from March’s 53.
The manufacturing survey results came in at 50.8 points, below the 51.0 level forecast and 52.0 figure of March.
These PMIs measure changes in activity levels from one month to the next, tracking shifts in a variety of areas such as hiring, new orders and deliveries.
The 50-point mark separates expansion from contraction. A figure above 50 signals most firms reported an improvement. The further away from this level, the larger the majority during the month.
Based on these readings, China’s economy is still soft.
