China’s GDP grew 7.9% within the second quarter; Retail gross sales exceed expectations

A McDonald’s delivery worker walks past pig statues outside an art museum in Beijing on July 10, 2021.

Jade Gao | AFP | Getty Images

BEIJING – China reported GDP growth slightly below expectations in the second quarter, while retail sales and industrial production grew faster than forecast.

The country’s gross domestic product rose 7.9% year over year in the second quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That fell short of the Reuters estimate of 8.1% for the period April to June.

Second quarter GDP rose 1.3% from the first quarter, faster than the 0.6% pace between the first quarter of this year and the fourth quarter of 2020. However, the most recent quarterly increase was still slower than the second quarter .6% of the fourth quarter.

In the first quarter, GDP grew by 18.3%, compared to a decline a year ago.

“China’s economy has steadily recovered,” said the statistics bureau. However, the office added that there were still concerns about the global spread of the pandemic and the “unbalanced” recovery domestically.

Retail sales rose 12.1% year over year in June, more than Reuters’ forecast 11%.

Retail sales growth lagged that of the economy as a whole and fell short of analysts’ expectations for the first two months of the second quarter.

Industrial production grew 8.3%, more than the 7.8% Reuters estimate.

In the past three months, the Chinese authorities have also announced support for companies hit by the rise in commodity prices.

The urban unemployment rate remained constant at 5% in June, while the unemployment rate among younger 16 to 24 year olds rose to 15.4%.

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