China 2024 Growth Outlook Raised to 4.8%, Deflation Risk Lingers bnnbloomberg.ca - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bnnbloomberg.ca Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
China’s economic activity cooled sharply last month as widening COVID-19 lockdowns took a heavy toll on consumption, industrial production and employment, adding to fears that the economy could shrink in the second quarter.
Full or partial lockdowns were imposed in dozens of cities in March and last month, including a protracted shutdown in commercial center Shanghai, keeping workers and shoppers confined to their homes and severely disrupting supply chains.
Retail sales last month shrank 11.1 percent from a year earlier, the biggest contraction since March 2020, data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics showed yesterday, and worse than forecast.
Dining out services
China’s factory-gate inflation last month eased to its slowest pace in six months, while consumer price growth also softened amid weakening property sector demand, new COVID-19 curbs and government efforts to rein in surging materials costs.
The producer price index (PPI) increased 9.1 percent from a year earlier, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement yesterday.
That was slower than the 9.5 percent growth tipped by a Reuters poll and a 10.3 percent gain in December last year. It was the weakest pace since July.
While producer prices in the world’s second-largest economy remain elevated thanks to critical supply issues