China’s factory production and investment grew at faster paces in September thanks to supportive government policies, but consumption continued to be curbed by COVID-19 restrictions.
Retail sales rose 2.5% from a year earlier in September, down from a 5.4% increase in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said Monday. The result undershot the 2.7% growth expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Industrial production grew 6.3% from a year earlier in September, compared with a 4.2% increase in August and the 5.0% growth anticipated by the surveyed economists.
Fixed-asset investment climbed 5.9% in the January-September period from a year ago, up from a 5.8% increase in the first eight months of the year. Economists in the WSJ poll had expected FAI growth at 6.0%.
China’s urban surveyed unemployment rate rose to 5.5% in September, compared with 5.3% in August. The jobless rate for young workers aged 16 to 24 stood at 17.9%, compared with 18.7% in August.
