Growth in China’s industrial production slowed in April from the previous month even as the government continued to ramp up stimulus efforts, showing that rapid recovery in the world’s third-largest economy is not yet assured.
China’s industrial output in April rose 7.3% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. Although slower than March’s 8.3% growth and market expectations for an 8% rise, the April growth rate was still much faster than the 3.8% rise for the January-February period.
(…)The April figure still indicates that economic growth in the second and third quarters of the year is likely to be stronger, at least in quarter-on-quarter terms, than in the first, said Ha Jiming, chief economist of China International Capital Corporation. Gross domestic product grew 6.1% from a year earlier in the March quarter.
"April marks a return to a normal level," after March’s industrial output was artificially boosted by factories returning to operation after an extended break in February, Mr. Ha said.
(…)Analysts said the mixed picture from the April statistics showed that China is still struggling with frail demand conditions.
Meanwhile, China’s retail sales in April rose 14.8% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said separately, holding steady with March’s 14.7% rise.(…)
WSJ
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