The strength in consumption is encouraging after a lopsided recovery in China in which household spending trailed production, held back by sluggish sentiment among shoppers and the private sector. Boosting domestic demand could become even more pressing after last week’s reelection of Trump as US president, given his threat of a 60% tariff on most Chinese imports risks wreaking havoc on the Asian country’s export sector.
China entered the fourth quarter with a more balanced economy as consumption growth nearly caught up to factory output, in an upswing that now depends on how much more stimulus Beijing may deploy in the event of a tariff shock when Donald Trump returns to the White House in 2025.
Retail sales expanded at the fastest in eight months in October, according to figures published by the National Bureau of Statistics on Friday, exceeding the forecasts of all 29 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Industrial production increased at a slightly slower pace from the previous month but hovered above a level critical to achieving the government’s 2024 growth target of around 5%.
