Falling PMI hints at more room for improvement

China is ready to unleash the potential of consumption further and scale up lending toward the manufacturing sector to realize high-quality growth, an official said.

Meng Wei, a spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a news conference on Wednesday that the falling Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) in manufacturing in April indicates that current market demand remains insufficient, and internal momentum for development needs to be improved.

China's official manufacturing PMI declined to 49.2 in April from 51.9 in March, sliding into the contraction territory.

Noting several highlights in the manufacturing sub-indexes in April in despite of the PMI jump, Meng said that, currently, recovering and expanding demand are key to improving economic growth. It's also the primary direction in keeping industrial growth stable, she said.

"Going forward, we will work to unleash consumption potential further and create a consumption supply system of high-quality," she said.

"New efforts will be put in place to stabilize and expand investment in manufacturing. The role of special local government bonds, funds under the central government budget and structural monetary policies will be better harnessed. Efforts will also be made in providing more medium and long-term loans towards manufacturing to realize high-quality growth of the sector," she added.