Chinese industrial production grows 4.8 percent year-on-year in July
Beijing, Aug 14 (efe-epa).- China’s industrial production grew 4.8 percent year-on-year in July, the same increase as the previous month, with which the economy of the country seems to consolidate its recovery trend after the impact suffered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported Friday.
The data is, however, below the forecasts of analysts, who predicted a growth of about 5.1 percent for that month.
The indicator had plummeted by 13.5 percent year-on-year in the first two months of 2020, while in March it showed a drop of 1.1 percent, in April a rise of 3.9 percent, in May an increase of 4.4 percent and in June a rise of 4.8 percent.
Among the three main categories in which the NBS divides the indicator, the growth of the manufacturing industry stands out, with a rise of 6 percent year-on-year compared to the 5.1 percent registered in June.
In addition, the electricity, heating, gas and water industries increased 1.7 percent year-on-year in July, but the mining sector fell 2.6 percent.
The official statistics body also compares the data of 41 industrial sub sectors, of which 25 experienced an increase in their activity in July when compared to the same month of 2019.
Among the products whose manufacturing progressed the most, vehicles (21.6 percent), computers and other electronic equipment (11.8 percent) and special machinery (10.2 percent) stand out.
The NBS also released other indicators Friday, such as retail sales, an important piece of data for measuring domestic consumer demand and one of the pillars of the change in the economic model advocated by Beijing.
This sector registered a year-on-year fall of 1.1 percent in July which, nevertheless, represents an improvement after recording greater year-to-year decreases in the months of June (-1.8 percent), May (-2.8 percent), April (-7.5 percent) and March (-15.8 percent).
On the other hand, investment in fixed assets accumulated in the first seven months of the year a fall of 1.6 percent compared to the -3.1 percent registered between January and June, according to the NBS.
The urban unemployment rate, another of the indicators released Friday, remained at 5.7 percent, the same figure as that registered the previous month, according to the agency.
The NBS said in a statement that the data shows that production and supply continue to recover, while demand gradually grows and employment remains stable. There are new driving forces for growth, and market confidence has also improved, therefore the national economy maintains a stable recovery trend.
The Chinese economy seems to be overcoming the hit caused by the COVID-19 pandemic after registering in the second quarter of the year a return to growth even higher than expected by analysts, with of 3.2 percent growth in its gross domestic product (GDP) in that period in year-on-year terms. EFE-EPA
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