A report presented by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that industrial production growth accelerated to 6.7% per annum in April from 4.5% per annum in March. Economists had expected an increase of 5.4% per annum. Monthly, the industrial output rose by 0.97%. For the first four months of the year, industrial output grew by 6.3% per annum.
Meanwhile, retail sales - a measure of consumption - rose 2.3% per annum in April, recording the weakest increase in 15 months. Consensus estimates suggested an increase of 3.7% per annum after an increase of 3.1% per annum in March. On a monthly basis, retail trade grew by only 0.03%. For the first four months of the year, retail turnover grew by 4.1% per annum.
The data also showed that fixed asset investment grew by 4.2% per annum from January to April after increasing by 4.5% per annum from January to March. Economists had expected an increase of 4.6% per annum.
In addition, NBS said that prices for new housing in April fell at the fastest pace since November 2014, despite the active efforts of the authorities to support the weak real estate sector. In April, prices fell by 0.6% after falling by 0.3% in March. The price decrease has been recorded for the tenth month in a row. On an annual basis, new home prices fell by 3.1% (the largest drop since July 2015) after falling by 2.2% in March.