Shanghai Bund skyline panorama
Yangna | E+ | Getty Images
China’s economic slowdown deepened in August with a raft of key indicators missing expectations, as weak domestic demand persisted and Beijing’s campaign against industrial overcapacity curbed output.
Retail sales last month rose 3.4% from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday, missing analysts’ estimates for 3.9% growth in a Reuters poll and slowing from July’s 3.7% growth.
Industrial output growth slowed to 5.2% in August, compared to the 5.7% jump in July, marking its weakest level since August 2024, according to LSEG data. Economists had expected the data to be unchanged from the previous month.
Fixed-asset investment, reported on a year-to-date basis, expanded just 0.5%, a sharp slowdown from the 1.6% expansion in the January to July period, and undershooting economists’ forecasts for 1.4% growth.
Within that segment, the contraction inreal estate investmentworsened, slumping 12.9% in the first eight months, government data showed. Investment in the manufacturing and utilities sector — including electricity, fuel and water supplies — increased 5.1% and 18.8% from a year earlier, respectively.
Fixed-asset investments have been largely propped up by state-owned enterprises, with investments from the private sector contracting from a year earlier, said Yuhan Zhang, principal economist at think-tank The Conference Board’s China Center.
Investments in manufacturing overall have seen “modest and uneven growth,” Zhang added, mainly supported by policy-driven state investment in infrastructure, high-tech and industrial upgrading, while real estate activity remains weak.
