CANBERRA:. China’s economy grew 7.4 percent last year, a pace that many countries would envy but it was worst showing in 24 years.
The government is widely expected to lower its growth target to about 7 per cent this year as the global economy continues to make a slow recovery and domestic demand remains weak.Imports also fell sharply during the month, partly due to weak demand from local industry as well as much lower oil and raw material prices, and giving the nation another big trade surplus for the month.“China’s manufacturing sector is under great pressure as both external and domestic demand remains sluggish,” ANZ economists Li-Gang Liu and Hao Zhou said in a note to clients.
Exports fell 3.3 per cent in January from a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed yesterday. This was a sharp deterioration from December’s 9.7 per cent rise and short of an expected 4 per cent increase by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.The export weakness adds to the already disappointing domestic picture where a government survey of factory activity in January slipped to its weakest level since September 2012.
In January, exports to Southeast Asia and the US were stronger, while shipments to the European Union, Japan and Hong Kong, a key transhipment market, were all weaker in dollar terms.The yuan lost more than 2 per cent against the dollar last year but the sharper rise of the US unit against other currencies has generally carried the Chinese currency higher, increasing the prices of China’s exports in other markets and making already-difficult market conditions even tougher.In a statement accompanying the trade data, China’s customs authorities said that a survey showed weaker confidence among exporters for the fourth consecutive month.
