China's third quarter GDP growth beats forecasts
China's economy grew at a faster-than-expected clip in the third quarter, data showed on Wednesday, while domestic consumption also picked up pace last month, suggesting the recent recovery may carry enough steam to reach Beijing's full-year growth target. Gross domestic product grew 4.9 percent in July-September from the year earlier, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed, versus analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 4.4 percent increase but slower than the 6.3 percent expansion in the second quarter. On a quarter-by-quarter basis, GDP grew 1.3 percent in the third quarter, accelerating from a revised 0.5 percent in the second quarter and above the forecast for growth of 1 percent. The NBS said if the nation’s fourth quarter year-on-year GDP growth could be above 4.4 percent, the full-year GDP target of around 5 percent could be achieved. Positive momentum of China's economic recovery is more obvious in the third quarter, the bureau added. The economy faltered in the second quarter after a brief post-Covid recovery, dragged by a property downturn and huge debt. Beijing has in recent weeks unveiled a raft of measures, including more public works spending, interest rate cuts, property easing and efforts to shore up the private sector. The government has set a full year 2023 growth target of around 5.0 percent. Industrial output in September grew a stronger than expected 4.5 percent from a year earlier, but the pace was unchanged from August, according to the data. Analysts had expected a 4.3 percent increase. Growth of retail sales, a gauge of consumption, also beat expectations, rising 5.5 percent last month, and accelerating from a 4.6 percent increase in August. Fixed asset investment grew 3.1 percent in the first nine months of 2023 from the same period a year earlier. Property investment in the first nine months of 2023 fell by 9.1 percent from a year earlier, after slumping 8.8 percent in January-August, the data showed. (Reuters)