Chinese factory, consumer activity slow amid economy struggles

CHINA'S economy showed further signs of weakness last month, with key data yesterday revealing factory output and consumption rising at their weakest pace for around a year.

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Beijing has struggled to fully reignite the world’s number two economy since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the once-booming property sector mired in a debt crisis and exports facing mounting headwinds.

The trends have contributed to a slump in consumer confidence, dragging on activity and threatening leaders’ official growth target for this year of around five percent.

Industrial production edged up 5.2% year-on-year in August, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the slowest pace since the same month last year.

The figure missed the 5.6% growth forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

“The activity data point to a further loss of momentum last month,” Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.