At the beginning of the year, China's economy faced a deep recession due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, in the second quarter of this year, the country's economy resumed rising. GDP grew by 3.2% over the same period last year. The data turned out to be above the forecasts. Analysts had expected an increase of only 2.5%.
However, while GDP is rising, the Chinese consumer activity remains weak. The fact is that most funds are used to stimulate the industrial sector.
A drop in consumption definitely indicates that the global prospects are not very bright. Especially taking into account that many countries continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, China has managed to contain the outbreak and has begun to restart its economic engines.
Retail sales have been falling for five months. In June it falls by 1.8% year on year. Analysts were expecting a rise of 0.3% after a drop of 2.8% in May.
In the second quarter, China's GDP grew by 11.5%. The indicator exceeded the forecast of a 9.6% advance.
Also, in June, the country's industrial economy grew by 4.8%. However, investment in fixed assets declined by 3.1% in the first half of the year.