China’s consumption and investment cooled further in July while factory production growth decelerated, official data showed Tuesday.
China’s retail sales, a key metric for the country’s consumption, rose 2.5% from a year earlier in July, down from a 3.1% year-on-year increase in June, said the National Bureau of Statistics.
The result undershot the 4.4% growth expected by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Industrial production grew 3.7% from a year earlier in July, lower than a 4.4% increase in June and the 4.6% growth anticipated by the surveyed economists.
Fixed-asset investment rose 3.4% in the January-July period from a year ago, down from a 3.8% increase in the first six months. The economists surveyed had expected FAI to grow 3.8%.
China’s urban surveyed unemployment rate rose to 5.3% in July.