Arabic version: اقتصاد الصين يفقد الزخم عبر مؤشرات رئيسية في يوليو

According to Cnbc, China’s economy slowed across key measures in July, as consumer spending barely expanded, urban investment contracted more sharply and unemployment rose. Retail sales increased 0.6% from a year earlier, below the 1.5% rise estimated in a Reuters poll and down from 1% growth in June.

Industrial output rose 4.5% in July, missing an estimated 4.8% increase and slowing from 5.3% in June. China’s urban fixed-asset investment, which includes real estate and infrastructure, fell 6.7% in the January-to-July period from a year earlier. That was worse than the estimated 6% decline and followed a 5.7% drop in the first half.

The urban unemployment rate reached 5.2% in July, up from 5% in June. The National Bureau of Statistics said China must accelerate its transition to new growth drivers while pursuing greater reforms and further opening up. Spokesperson Fu Linghui said geopolitical pressure abroad and high temperatures domestically affected the economy last month.

Fu said services retail sales grew 5% in the first seven months of the year, compared with a 1.1% rise in goods retail sales. He added that exports, new growth drivers and macro policy would support the country in reaching its full-year growth target despite shocks from extreme weather in July.

Investment in real estate fell 19.2% in the first seven months, while infrastructure and manufacturing investment contracted 3.6% and 1.7%, respectively. High-tech investment rose 5% year on year. Zhiwei Zhang of Pinpoint Asset Management said the data pointed to further downside risks and called for a more effective policy response, while Oxford Economics’ Sheana Yue expects only a modest second-half pickup and maintains a 4.8% growth forecast.