Retail sales growth, a key indicator of consumption, also exceeded expectations, increasing by 5.5 % last month and picking up from an increase of 4.6 % in August. Economists had anticipated a 4.9 % increase in retail revenue.
In contrast to aspirations for a 3.2 percent increase, fixed asset investment increased by 3.1 % in the first nine months of 2023 from the same period last year. In the months of January and August, it increased by 3.2 percent.
Decline IN PROPERTY
However, as policymakers work to maintain growth, a worsening downturn in the real estate sector, which generates almost 25 % of the nation’s economic output, presents significant challenges, according to researchers.
The most recent information highlighted those concerns. After falling 8.8 % from January to August, real estate investment decreased by 9.1 % in the first nine months of 2023 compared to the same period last year. Private business fixed-asset purchase decreased by 0.6 % from January to September year over year, demonstrating a lack of confidence in the private sector.
Some of the biggest designers in the nation have been impacted by the faltering real estate sector.
Fears that Country Garden Holdings, China’s largest personal property developer, had defaulted on its onshore arrears grew as a grace period for the US$ 15 million discount payment expired earlier in the day.
” In the grand scheme of things, I don’t believe that personal developers encountering more economic instability may be sufficient to cause things to go awry.” According to Frederic Neumann, chief Asia scholar and co-head of international studies at HSBC, the market has been aware of the developers’ issues for some time.
However, despite their best efforts, politicians have been unable to increase trust, underscoring the seriousness of the issues in the sector that led to a issue two years ago.
According to Louise Loo, a China economist at Oxford Economics,” in the near-term, our expectations are also for another round of 10bp rate reductions in Q4 from the PBOC, an increase in the laxing of homebuying constraints, and modest increases in state-directed system investing.”
The Eastern giant’s growth projections for 2023 and 2024 were downgraded by the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday, claiming that the decline in home could lead to a decrease in China.