China retail sales growth slows to three-year low

China’s retail sales growth slowed to its weakest pace in nearly three years in November, highlighting ongoing challenges in reviving domestic consumption, official data showed on Monday.

Retail sales rose 1.3 percent year on year last month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, the slowest growth since December 2022 and well below market expectations. The figure also marked a sharp slowdown from October’s 2.9 percent increase.

The data underline the difficulties facing policymakers as they try to boost spending in the world’s second-largest economy, which has been weighed down by a prolonged debt crisis in the property sector. Reviving domestic demand has become a key priority for leaders, even as exports remain strong.

Industrial output growth also eased in November, rising 4.8 percent from a year earlier, the slowest pace in more than a year and slightly below forecasts. The slowdown suggests that gains from strong overseas demand are being offset by weak domestic activity.

Fixed-asset investment through November fell 2.6 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, adding to signs of broader economic pressure.

China’s economy has continued to benefit from robust exports despite trade tensions with the United States, with shipments helping drive manufacturing activity and pushing the country’s trade surplus to record levels this year.

However, consumer sentiment remains subdued. Home prices, a major source of household wealth, continued to decline, with new home prices falling year on year in most major cities surveyed.

Chinese leaders last week pledged to boost consumption, stabilise the property market and support employment at a key economic meeting, though no specific measures were announced.

The surveyed unemployment rate stood at 5.1 percent in November, unchanged from the previous month, according to official data.