2024-09-27 12:28:25
China’s economy continues to struggle. In addition to reduced demand, the government also cites climate catastrophes as reasons.
China’s industrial profits fell sharply again in August, marking the sharpest decline this year. This emerges from a report by the National Statistics Office published on Friday. The slump was due to the lack of effective market demand, the greater impact of natural disasters such as high temperatures, heavy rains and floods, said NBS statistician Wei Ning.
Compared to the same period last year, profits in August fell by 17.8 percent. Profits in the first eight months of the year rose just 0.5 percent, with growth of 3.6 percent between January and July. Falling profits in the automotive and equipment industries further weighed on earnings, said macroeconomist Zhou Maohua of China Everbright Bank.
A series of weak data at the start of the month added to concerns about a lack of recovery. As a result, international brokerage firms have revised their growth forecasts for China this year so that they are below the official target of around five percent.
In order to give the economy the much-needed boost, the Chinese central bank on Tuesday decided on the strongest economic stimulus measures since the pandemic. Analysts are now betting on further fiscal policy measures to restore investor confidence.