China's economic growth slowed as expected in October

Indicators of China's economic activity suggest that the economic growth overall slowed in October. In real terms, industrial output growth decelerated to around 6 % y-o-y, while growth in retail sales fell well below 9 %. After averaging around 5 % in previous months, growth in electricity production fell to below 3 % last month.

The sharp slowdown in fixed asset investment (FAI) deserves special note. Even with cautious investment price estimates, October investment growth was clearly in the red. In the previous years, changes in FAI has followed trends in fixed investment recorded in the national accounts.

Consumer price inflation accelerated from 1.6 % in September to 1.9 % in October. As in September, October producer prices were up 6.9 % y-o-y.

Real growth in Chinese fixed asset investment (FAI)

Sources: Macrobond, BOFIT.