China’s Retail Sales Growth Slows in Early 2024
Updated March 18, 2024 11:50 CST
Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China on Monday morning revealed that China’s total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 5.5% year-on-year from January to February. This growth rate was lower than the previous value of 7.4% observed in December and also fell short of the expected 5.8%.
Throughout 2023, the full-year growth in total retail sales of consumer goods was 7.2% over the previous year, indicating a slight slowdown in the growth rate in the early months of 2024.
Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal had anticipated a 5.8% year-on-year increase in retail sales for January and February, however, the actual growth came in lower at 5.5%.
Looking at the month-on-month data, the Bureau of Statistics reported that retail sales saw an increase of 0.17% and 0.03% in January and February, respectively. These figures indicated a slight decline in the growth rate compared to the 0.42% month-on-month increase recorded in December, which was later revised to 0.25%.
The slowdown in retail sales growth in the early months of 2024 may be a cause for concern, as it could indicate weakening consumer sentiment or changing spending patterns in China’s economy. Analysts will be closely monitoring upcoming data releases to assess the trajectory of retail sales moving forward.