China’s industrial output and retail sales faltered in August as the economy lost momentum, adding to expectations Beijing will step up stimulus efforts in the final months of the year.
Industrial output grew at the slowest pace since March while retail sales, a gauge of consumption, had their second-slowest month of the year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed, despite August being the summer holiday month.
The NBS said “in general the economy was operating smoothly in August”. But it said economic activity “still faces many difficulties and challenges in its continued recovery”, blaming an adverse external environment and “insufficient” domestic effective demand.