China’s Recovery Weakens as Industrial, Retail Activity Slow

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People’s Bank of China cut the interest rate on its one-year policy loans this week by 10 basis points to 2.65% to stimulate the economy. Photo: Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — China’s economic recovery weakened in May as growth in industrial output and retail sales slowed, putting pressure on policymakers to step up stimulus.

Industrial production rose 3.5% in May from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday, in line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Retail sales climbed 12.7%, missing the median estimate of a 13.7% increase, while growth in fixed-asset investment slowed to 4% in the first five months of the year, weaker than forecasts of a 4.4% uptick. The urban jobless rate was unchanged at 5.2%.