Factories, shops offer hope for China's economy

The Star

China's factory output and retail sales grew at a faster pace in August, but tumbling investment in the crisis-hit property sector threatens to undercut a flurry of support steps that are showing signs of stabilising parts of the wobbly economy.   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00 China's factories are getting busier and that is offering hope for a recovery in the

00:05 country's wobbly economy. Data out Friday showed industrial output rose 4.5 per cent

00:11 in August from a year earlier. That was better than expected and up on the month before.

00:18 Retail sales provided a positive surprise too. They jumped 4.6 per cent, beating forecasts

00:24 by a wide margin. Officials said the figures were encouraging.

00:28 Statistics Bureau spokesperson Fu Lingui said problems remained, including weak demand.

00:35 But he said growth momentum was gradually building.

00:42 Property is the big worry. China's real estate sector remains under huge pressure amid tumbling

00:47 investment and sales. Giant developers like Country Garden have been stumbling to avoid

00:53 default on their debts. Reuters calculations show investment in the sector falling by almost

00:59 a fifth in August. Now the uncertain outlook has businesses reluctant to hire, although

01:05 the jobless rate did tick down marginally last month. It all has Beijing under ever

01:11 more pressure to step in with new stimulus measures.

01:15 Analysts at Nomura predict the Chinese government will probably, once again, have to play the

01:20 role of borrower and spender of last resort.

01:23 -

01:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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