The photo shows a BYD factory producing new energy-powered trucks in Huai’an, China, on February 21, 2024.
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Industrial production rose 6.7% in April from a year earlier, beating expectations for 5.5% growth. This was also a notable increase from 4.5% in March.
However, fixed asset investment increased by 4.2% in the first four months of this year, lower than the expected 4.6% increase.
Real estate investment accelerated its pace of decline, falling 9.8% year-on-year in the first four months of 2024.
Both infrastructure and manufacturing investment during this period slowed slightly from levels reported in March.
The urban unemployment rate in April was 5%. The agency previously said it would release a breakdown by age group in the coming days after releasing the overall data.
The Bureau of Statistics said in a statement that April’s statistics were influenced by the May 1 Labor Day holiday and last year’s high levels.
“Key indicators of industry, exports, employment and prices improved across the board and maintained renewed momentum.”[ing] It is growing rapidly,” the agency said.
China was also scheduled to launch a six-month program on Friday to issue multi-decade bonds to finance strategic projects. Oxford Economics does not expect most of the economic impact to be felt until the first half of next year.
Other data released in April pointed to mixed growth prospects.
Exports in April were in line with expectations, increasing 1.5% year-on-year, but imports rose 8.4%, much higher than expected.
In another sign of stabilizing domestic demand, consumer prices rose last month.
However, price measures at the factory level continued to fall. New lending data for April fell to the lowest level in at least 20 years, mainly due to changes in data measurement, but also reflecting weaker demand for future-proof borrowing from businesses and households.
The long-term slump in the real estate sector still shows no signs of major improvement, and many of the sold apartments are still under construction. In recent weeks, an increasing number of cities have loosened restrictions on home purchases in an effort to boost sales.
Officials from the Ministry of Housing, the central bank and the financial regulator are scheduled to hold a press conference on Friday afternoon on policies to support home deliveries.
Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank (China), said in an interview late last month that he expects China’s real estate market to stabilize by the end of next year.
“Actually, it seems to me that the policy succeeded in a very brutal way, because it moved too fast. It essentially stopped speculation,” she said.
He noted that while the real estate downturn has weighed particularly on middle-class wealth, the overall economy is holding up.
“Aside from the quality of the data, it appears that the economy has been able to compensate for the large losses in the housing market with industrial investment and manufacturing,” Wang said. “China has shown some strength in the way it organizes its economy and its industrial policy,” he said.
China’s official GDP rose 5.3% year-on-year in the first quarter, beating expectations for a 4.6% increase. The country has set a target for GDP growth of around 5% in 2024.
China’s EU Chamber of Commerce told reporters last week that recent economic pressures appear to be cyclical, with increasing domestic demand more important than industrial investment for foreign companies.
According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, retail sales during the recent holiday period from April 29 to May 3 increased by 6.8% year-on-year.
According to the ministry, retail sales of home appliances increased by 7.9% during the period, and retail sales of automobiles increased by 4.8% due to the impact of the nationwide trade-in incentive.
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