Profits at large Chinese industrial companies fell at the fastest pace in almost a decade at the start of 2019, in the latest sign of a slowdown for the world’s second-largest economy.
Industrial profits at large-scale Chinese companies in January and February fell 14 per cent year on year, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, the largest drop recorded since May 2009. Profits had risen 10.3 per cent for the 12 months to December.
The fall comes despite Beijing having introduced a series of fiscal and monetary stimulus measures since July in a bid to shore up growth. China’s economic growth dipped to its slowest annual rate in almost three decades in 2018 on the effects of the US-China trade war and a crackdown on debt-fuelled corporate spending.