CHINA INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT LOSES STEAM
Growth slows to 6.2pc last month as govt crackdown on pollution starts to bite
CHINA’S industrial output slowed last month, official data showed yesterday, as authorities fight smog by clamping down on pollution produced by heavy industries.
Output at factories and workshops expanded 6.2 per cent yearon-year, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), slowing from 6.6 per cent in September and below a forecast of 6.3 per cent in a Bloomberg News survey.
The government has moved to wind down production at some steel factories and smelters in a drive to clean up the country’s smog-ridden cities.
Factories also closed during last month’s Communist Party congress, during which President Xi Jinping called for more efforts to protect the environment.
The government is also pushing to make domestic demand a growth driver of the world’s second-largest economy and make China less reliant on manufacturing and exports.
“Generally speaking, the national economy maintained stable performance with improved quality and sound momentum,” said NBS spokesman Liu Aihua.
“However, we must be aware that China is at a pivotal stage for transforming the growth model,” she said, adding that “problems of unbalanced and insufficient economic development was acute”.
The clean-air policy, which has been stepped up going into the winter when pollution worsens, has led to tighter supplies and in turn lifting prices.
NBS data showed growth in retail sales slowed to 10 per cent last month, down 0.3 percentage points from September and also short forecasts of 10.5 per cent.
Fixed asset investment grew 7.3 per cent on-year from January to last month, in line with expectations. AFP