- China posted year-on-year growth of 4.9% in the July-September quarter, above the average forecast of 4.6%.
- Compared to the previous quarter, China’s GDP grew 1.3% in the third quarter, following revised growth of 0.5% in the second quarter.
- Retail sales and industrial production in September were more robust than expected.
- Fixed asset investment disappointed slightly in the first nine months of the year, with real estate investment falling 9.1% in the January-September period.
Tourists enjoy the night view along the Jialing River on February 15, 2023 in Chongqing, China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images
China’s economic growth was stronger than expected in the third quarter, boosting hopes that the world’s second-largest economy will meet or even exceed Beijing’s target by about 5% this year.
Economic activity has shown signs of stabilizing in recent data. On Wednesday, September data for retail sales and industrial production also beat median forecasts, with cumulative fixed investment for the first nine months of this year coming in slightly below expectations.
China posted year-on-year growth of 4.9% in the July-September quarter, according to a release from China’s statistics bureau on Wednesday.
That’s stronger than economists’ expectations for GDP of 4.6% in the third quarter, according to a Portal poll. This follows growth of 6.3% for the April-June quarter and growth of 4.5% for the January-March quarter.
On a quarterly basis, China’s economy grew 1.3% in the third quarter, beating economists’ expectations of 0.9% growth. GDP growth for the second quarter was revised to 0.5%.
China also released monthly data on Wednesday, reporting 4.5% industrial production growth and a 5.5% year-on-year rise in retail sales in September, both slightly beating market expectations.
Fixed investment rose 3.1% in the first nine months of the year compared to the same cumulative period last year, slightly below the average forecast for growth of 3.2%.
The country’s real estate sector remains a drag on the economy as property investment fell 9.1% year-on-year in the January-September period.
Unemployment fell to 5% in September from 5.2% in the previous month.
“Overall, the national economy continued to recover in the first three quarters and high-quality development was advanced solidly, laying a solid foundation for achieving annual development goals,” China’s National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement, according to CNBC.
“However, we must also note that the external environment is becoming increasingly complex and difficult, domestic demand is still insufficient and the foundation for economic recovery still needs to be consolidated,” the office added.
Along with monthly data released last week, the latest release underscored what China’s leaders have described as a “difficult” economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis.
China’s consumer prices stagnated in September and were on the verge of deflation, while the producer price index posted a third month of slow annual declines. Exports fell less than expected in September, while imports fell slightly more than expected.
Total funding – a broad measure of lending – rose 9% in September, slightly more than expected. The larger-than-expected decline in the value of new bank loans was offset by strong government bond issuance and lending expansion by shadow banks.
Consumer sentiment was hit by a simmering debt crisis in the country’s real estate sector. Country Garden is on the verge of defaulting on $11 billion in foreign debt because it has not yet met its coupon payments to its bond investors due on Wednesday.