China's retail sales weaken, miss forecasts in November

BEIJING — China's retail sales growth weakened last month, official data showed on Monday, missing forecasts as demand remains muted in the world's number two economy.

The country is battling sluggish domestic consumption, a persistent crisis in the property sector and soaring government debt — all of which threaten Beijing's official growth target for this year.

Retail sales expanded three per cent year-on-year in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, slowing from a 4.8 per cent rise in October that was its best reading in eight months.

The figure fell significantly short of the 5.0 per cent forecast in a Bloomberg survey of analysts.

The NBS also said the national urban unemployment rate remained unchanged at five per cent in November.

Industrial production growth stayed broadly flat at 5.4 per cent compared with 5.3 per cent in October.

Beijing has unveiled a string of aggressive measures in recent months aimed at bolstering growth, including cutting interest rates, cancelling restrictions on homebuying and easing the debt burden on local governments.

But economists have warned that more direct fiscal stimulus aimed at shoring up domestic consumption is needed to restore full health in China's economy, which has struggled to fully recover since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beijing is pushing for an official national growth target this year of around five per cent, a goal officials have expressed confidence in achieving but which many economists believe it will narrowly miss.

The International Monetary Fund expects China's economy to grow by 4.8 per cent this year and 4.5 per cent next year.