China’s economy continues to tumble in May as data on Thursday showed that industrial output and retail sales growth missed forecasts.
Industrial output rose 3.5% in May from the same period of last year, according to the report by the National Bureau of Statistics as weak demand in China and globally hindered its growth. The data was slower than the 5.6% increase in April and slightly below a 3.6% increase forecast by a Reuters poll.
Meanwhile, retail sales growth which is a key gauge for consumer confidence, rose 12.7% in May from a year earlier, missing expectations of 13.6% growth and 18.4% in April.
Weaker results raised expectations that China would have to implement stimulus measures to shore up its economy.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on Thursday cut the borrowing cost of its one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF) by 10 basis points, as Beijing tried to give a push to its slow economic recovery.
