China's industrial output growth rebounded slightly in August,
suggesting the country's macro-control measures may be fading.
The month's industrial output rose 15.9 per cent compared to the same month
last year to 454.5 billion yuan (US$54.8 billion), the National Bureau of
Statistics said on Friday.
The growth rate was 0.4 percentage point higher than the previous month, the
bureau said.
Zhang Liqun, a senior researcher with the State Council's Development
Research Centre, said August's industrial situation suggests the impact of the
government's economic cooling measures have begun to ebb.
China took a raft of measures since the second half of last year to try to
cool down the economy. The measures include raising bank reserve requirements
three times and curbing unwanted fixed asset investment projects.
Those measures have had a great impact on the industrial output during the
past months, said Niu Li, a senior economist at the State Information Centre.
The industrial output has begun to slow since it peaked at 23.2 per cent in
February.
The industrial output slowed 0.7 percentage point in July compared to June
and dropped 1.3 percentage points in June compared to May.
The decline in industrial output has aroused worries among many economists,
who believe it would increase the possibility of an abrupt economic slowdown.
The government wants to bring economic growth down from the levels where many
resources such as oil have been constrained, but needs it to stay above 7 per
cent to generate enough jobs.
Output reduces worries
"The industrial situation in August reduced my worries," Zhang said.
According the statistics bureau, cement output in August was up 9.4 per cent
from a year earlier, slower than July's rise of 11 per cent.
But steel production jumped 22.9 per cent, continuing to accelerate after an
18.5 per cent rise in July and 17.3 per cent rise in June.
Car production was 386,000 vehicles in August, up 3.6 per cent from a year
ago, and down from the 5.4 per cent growth for July and 20.4 per cent growth for
June.
Industrial output is an important indicator for the gross domestic
product(GDP), Niu said.
China's industrial output grew 17 per cent last year, and its GDP grew 9.1
per cent.
During this half of the year, industrial output grew a year-on-year 17.7 per
cent and the country's GDP rose 9.7 per cent.
Statistics bureau spokesman Zheng Jingping said the overall performance of
the country's economy was good.
The national economy kept stable and fast growth, while economic efficiency
was improved continuously, he said.
Uncertainties and unhealthy factors existing in economic performance have
also been placed under initial control.
However, the government should be aware at the same time that those prominent
problems existing in the economy have not been rooted out fundamentally, he
said.
The energy and transportation bottlenecks and rapid growth in fixed asset
investments in some sectors are still troubling, he said.
