The “mini-stimulus” unveiled this summer by the Chinese government has hit its target, with better than expected economic data pointing to modest rebounds in everything from manufacturing to electricity consumption and railway freight.
China’s industrial output increased 10.4 per cent year on year in August, a 17-month high and up from a 9.7 per cent pace a month earlier, according to data published yesterday. With retail sales, investment and exports all strong, the world’s second-largest economy has closed the books on a shaky half year and is now in recovery mode.
The encouraging data have prompted speculation that the modest measures announced in July, especially those aimed at railway development, were in fact cover for a more ambitious “quiet” stimulus spurred on by a set of new infrastructure projects and generous lines of credit from China’s state-controlled banking sector.