China’s economy charted an uneven trajectory in the first two months of the year, a slew of key indicators showed Monday, muddying Beijing’s drive to boost flagging consumption.
Officials have looked in recent months to revive confidence in the world’s second-largest economy, which has been beset by persistent property sector woes and is now under increasing pressure from fresh trade tensions with the United States.
Data from Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday offered some positive signs, showing retail sales – a key measure of consumer sentiment – increased four percent year-on-year during January and February combined.
However, data also showed that unemployment rose, while housing prices continued to fall in most major cities.
“In the first two months, with the sustained effects of macro policies, the national economy maintained the new and positive development,” the NBS said in a statement.
But, it warned, “domestic effective demand is weak, (and) some enterprises face difficulties in production and operation”.
“The foundation for sustained economic recovery and growth is not strong enough,” it said.
The surveyed urban unemployment rate – China’s main metric for measuring how many are out of work – rose to 5.4 percent in February, the NBS said, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous month.
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