China’s industrial output, trade and retail sales improved last month, data showed yesterday, in positive signs for Beijing’s multibillion-dollar effort to restore stable growth in the world’s third-largest economy.
Consumer prices fell, possibly damping fears that stimulus spending might trigger a rise in inflation that could disrupt the rebound.
The flurry of data suggested China’s recovery is making progress, which could help to drive a global rebound from the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. But private sector activity is weak and economists say growth is still dependent on stimulus spending.
“The Chinese economy has shown some positive changes,” Li Xiaochao (李曉超), a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said at a news conference. However, he said, “profits of some enterprises still are in great decline.”
Industrial production rose 10.8 percent from a year earlier, the third straight monthly increase in growth, the statistics agency said. Retail sales climbed 15.2 percent, while investment in factories and other fixed assets also rose.
“These are mostly good signs,” said Citigroup economist Ken Peng (彭墾). “With improving external conditions, we should see growth pick up in the second half of the year.”
Imports and exports showed improvements over June, though both fell compared with a year earlier, customs data showed.
Imports dropped 14.9 percent from the same month last year, while exports fell 22.9 percent. But total trade was up US$17.5 billion from the previous month.
“That’s pretty solid improvement, even if the year-over-year comparisons continued to be ugly,” Peng said. He said last month’s declines were in part because the month was being compared with a peak in trade last year.
Also yesterday, the statistics bureau said July’s 1.8 percent fall in consumer prices from a year earlier was the sixth month of decline.
Wholesale prices fell even more sharply, dropping by 8.2 percent from a year earlier and reducing pressure for producers to pass on higher costs to consumers.
Such a decline was expected, especially because prices are being compared with a period of high inflation last year. But prolonged declines can cause economic problems.
“Deflation is still deepening,” said Citigroup’s Peng. “So demand is still not very solid, economy-wide.”
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft