China 2015 retail sales to rise 10.7%, slower than 2014

Nov non-financial ODI jumps 12.6 pct y/y – commerce ministry

BEIJING, Dec 17, (RTRS) : China’s retail sales, a key gauge of domestic consumption in the world’s second-biggest economy, is likely to post slower growth this year compared with 2014, the commerce ministry said.

Retail sales may expand around 10.7 percent in 2015, Shen Danyang, spokesman at the Ministry of Commerce, told a news conference in Beijing on Thursday, without giving a reason. Retail sales rose 12 percent last year.

In the first 11 months of 2015, retail sales grew 10.6 percent from a year earlier. In November, retail sales increased by an annual 11.2 percent - the strongest monthly expansion this year.

China’s external outlook gloomy.

Chinese companies said global demand this year was worse than that during 2008/09 financial crisis, according to a recent survey by the commerce ministry of more than 6,000 firms in 70 key industries.

Subdued external demand, rising costs, slowing investment growth and the yuan’s appreciation have all weighed on China’s trade performance this year, Shen said.

“Feedback from firms showed foreign trade was extremely difficult this year,” he said.

China’s net exports are likely to contribute around 12.3 percent to the increase in the country’s GDP this year, he said, citing data from a research unit under his ministry.

China’s trade remained weak in November with exports falling a worse-thanexpected 6.8 percent from a year earlier and imports tumbling 8.7 percent.

China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) in November rose 12.6 percent from a year earlier to $8.92 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.

ODI surged to $7.91 billion in October, up 14.3 percent compared with the same period the previous year.

Last week, the Commerce Ministry said China attracted 704.33 billion yuan, which they said was the equivalent of $114 billion, in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first 11 months of 2015, up 7.9 percent from a year earlier.

The People’s Bank of China set its official midpoint rate at 6.4757 per dollar prior to the market open on Thursday, its weakest level since June 2011, and 0.2 percent weaker than the previous fix of 6.4626.

The sharply weaker yuan midpoint reflected the dollar’s strength in global markets

remains

after the US Federal Reserve raised its policy interest rate overnight, traders said.

The dollar gained against the euro and yen on Thursday, rising after the Fed’s decision to hike interest rates for the first time since 2006 lifted risk appetite and Treasury yields.