China's economy recovering amid challenges

China's economy has maintained its recovery trend in August despite facing pressures from a complicated and grim international environment, sporadic domestic COVID-19 cases and extreme weather, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

Figures released by the NBS showed value-added industrial output, a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors, grew by 4.2 percent in August from a year earlier after a 3.8 percent rise in July. 

Retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending, rose by 5.4 percent year-on-year in August, from 2.7 percent year-on-year in July.

Fixed-asset investment, a gauge of expenditures on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment, increased by 5.8 percent in the January-August period year-on-year, compared with the 5.7 percent in the January-July period.

The surveyed urban jobless rate stood at 5.3 percent in August from 5.4 percent in July, according to the NBS. 

Meanwhile, the NBS said the foundation for recovery is still not solid, and more efforts will be made to implement the stimulus policy measures, expand effective demand and ensure stability in employment and prices and keep the economic operation within a reasonable range.

ouyangshijia@chinadaily.com.cn