China’s economic data for August, released Sept. 15 by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, showed a strong increase in industrial growth and employment following the much-reported two-month “pause” in China’s expansion after the end of COVID-19 lockdowns and port closures. Industrial production grew by 4.5% from the previous August, and by 0.5% from July. Manufacturing activity was up more, by 5.4% year to year, and the value-added of “high-tech manufacturing” by 2.9%. Industrial production growth over the eight months of the year to date has been pulled up to 3.9%. Urban unemployment was slightly lower than one year ago at 5.2%.
Fixed asset investment in August was up 3.2% on the year, of which investment in infrastructure grew by 6.4%, in manufacturing capital by 5.9%; in real estate development, by contrast, fixed asset investment dropped by 8.8% for the year. Unsurprisingly, real estate companies’ debt defaults are all that the international media can find to report about China’s economy, and they insist that the real estate problems will drag down the “otherwise positive data” on China’s economy, which these problems have failed to drag down.
