China’s November retail sales miss expectations as economic woes intensify

China’s retail sales rose 3% in November from a year ago National Statistics Office The data, released on Monday, missed forecasts by 4.6% in a Reuters poll.

This was a significant slowdown from the previous month’s 4.8% growth. Retail sales were the fastest in October growth since FebruaryIt started every year supported by the Singles’ Day shopping festival more than a week before than the 2023 fiscal year.

November industrial production it increased by 5.4% compared to a year agoThat was above forecasts of 5.3% growth among economists polled by Reuters, and also compared to a 5.3% rise in the previous month.

The world’s second largest economy has faced pressure on several fronts this year. Consumer and business confidence have been hit by a prolonged recession in property, local government debt risks and high unemployment.

Last week, hours high-level economic policy meetingsChina’s leadership has expressed a greater need to boost its ailing economy, shifting the country’s policy focus to boosting consumption as Beijing prepares for a potential escalation in trade tensions with the US.

Top officials vowed to implement “proactive fiscal tools” and “moderately loose” monetary policy next year, and to boost domestic consumption “strongly” and stimulate demand “across the board”. State-run Xinhua News Agency.

That was the first time Beijing admitted that its monetary policy should be loose The depth of the global financial crisis in 2008

Since late September, Beijing has ramped up its stimulus announcements in a bid to boost the buoyant economy, with several cuts in interest rates and loosening of property-buying rules. In the fiscal area, the Ministry of Finance presented a five-year 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) program in November to address the local government debt problems.

However, recent economic data out of China has underscored ongoing deflationary economic pressures.

Consumer inflation fell to a five-month low in November, retail prices decreased by 0.2% compared to a year ago. China’s producer price index extended its downward trend, falling for the 26th consecutive month.

Of the people imports fell by 3.9% amid sluggish consumer demand, it was the sharpest drop since September 2023, while exports rose a smaller-than-expected 6.7%.

Beyond the exchange program to boost sales of cars and electrical appliances, Beijing’s stimulus measures announced so far have not directly targeted consumption.

Economic planning meetings last week he gave broad views of politics and the direction for next year, more specifics and details will only be revealed during the legislative sessions in March.

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