Explainer‘Little room for complacency’: 6 takeaways from China’s October economic data
China’s retail sales continued to improve in October following a raft of stimulus policies, but property investment remained a drag
1. Retail sales hit eight-month high
The reading beat expectations of 3.9 per cent growth projected by economists polled by Chinese financial data provider Wind.
“China’s economy improved further at the start of the fourth quarter, thanks to stronger-than-expected consumer spending,” said Zichun Huang, China economist at Capital Economics.
Betty Wang, lead economist at Oxford Economics, said the main drivers were the consumer trade-in programme and policy support for electric vehicle purchases.
Sales of household appliances soared by 45.1 per cent year on year in October after growing by 25 per cent in September, outperforming other consumer goods.
Car sales also extended gains and rose by 7.7 per cent year on year, reversing the downward trend seen in previous quarters.
2. Property drag goes on, but rebound emerges
Property investment has been a major drag on the economy and it fell by 10.3 per cent year on year in the first 10 months of the year, compared with the 10.1 per cent fall observed in the first three quarters of this year.