A glimmer of hope for the recently weak Chinese economy: In August, retail and industry developed better than recently. The expectations of the experts were also exceeded. Economists attributed this in part to state aid such as subsidies for the purchase of electric cars or special effects such as the heat wave in August, which primarily boosted electricity production. In addition to retail sales and industrial production, investments in property, plant and equipment were also higher.
Retail sales in August rose 5.4 percent year-on-year, the statistics office said on Friday in Beijing. In July, the increase was only 2.7 percent. Economists had expected an improvement, but only an increase of just over three percent. The situation is similar in industrial production. This rose by 4.2 percent in August. Economists had expected an increase of 3.8 percent compared to the July value.
Investments in property, plant and equipment increased by 5.8 percent up to the end of August, after having increased by 5.7 percent up to the end of July. According to a spokesman for the statistics office, the data show that the economy can withstand the numerous problems. On the other hand, the situation remains tense due to the difficulties in controlling the corona pandemic and the downturn in the global economy.
In China, the economy is suffering from the fact that Beijing is not moving away from its “zero Covid policy”. The aim of this is to nip any outbreak in the bud. Numerous megacities had imposed strict measures, especially in spring, to prevent the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant. Problems in the real estate market are also weighing on growth in China. The central bank and the government are trying to counteract this with moderate interest rate cuts and state support measures. (dpa)