China’s industrial output surges in April, improving from March fall
China’s industrial production rebounded in April thanks to the government’s push for work resumption, but investment and consumption continued to fall from a year earlier amid sluggish domestic demand.
China’s industrial output rose 3.9% in April from a year earlier, improving from a 1.1% fall in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. The reading beat a 1.0% increase forecast by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.
Fixed-asset investment dropped 10.3% in the January-April period, compared with a 16.1% fall in the first quarter. Economists had anticipated a 9.5% decline.
Retail sales fell 7.5% in April, better than a 15.8% decline in March but still lower than the 7% drop expected by the economists.
China’s urban jobless rate rose to 6.0% in April, after retreating to 5.9% in March. In February, China’s urban unemployment rate reported a record high of 6.2% as millions of workers couldn’t get back to work due to coronavirus lockdowns.
