China recovery faces pressure after April activity weaker than expected: official

BEIJING: China’s economic recovery faces pressure from sluggish consumer and export demand, a government official said Tuesday after retail sales and other activity in April were weaker than expected.
Chinese activity accelerated while US and European economic growth is cooling following interest rate hikes to extinguish inflation. But consumer spending, an important economic engine, is taking longer than expected to recover after most Chinese curbs on business activity and travel ended in December.
“The recovery of demand is still insufficient,” said Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, at a news conference. “External demand has weakened,” and exporters face a “complex and severe” environment.
Retail sales accelerated to 18.4 percent over a year earlier in April, official data showed, but that was below private sector expectations of up to 35 percent.
Factory output rose 5.6 percent but was off 0.5 percentage points from March. Investment in factories, real estate and other fixed assets rose 4.7 percent in the first four months of 2023 but slowed from the first quarter’s 5.4 percent growth rate.
Economic growth accelerated to 4.5 percent over a year earlier in the three months ending in March from the previous quarter’s 2.9 percent. The economy will have to grow faster in coming quarters if it is to hit the ruling Communist Party’s annual target of “around 5 percent.”
“The bulk of China’s rebound is now behind us,” Capital Economics said in a report. “The challenging global picture will prevent much pickup in Chinese exports.”