BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s imports and exports fell in August, adding pressure on the manufacturing sector as domestic and external demand weakens.
Imports fell 7.3% in August year-on-year, according to data released by China Customs on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a decline of 9.0%.
Exports contracted 8.8%, less than the 9.2% expected and the 14.5% decline the previous month.
The recovery of the world’s second largest economy from the COVID-19 pandemic is proving difficult due to the deepening housing crisis, weak consumer spending and collapsing credit growth, which has prompted analysts to lower their growth forecasts for the year.
Beijing has announced a series of measures aimed at supporting growth, but analysts have warned that they may have only a limited impact.
China posted a trade surplus of 68.36 billion dollars (63.73 billion euros) in August, where analysts expected 73.80 billion dollars expected and against 80.6 billion dollars in July.
(Report Joe Cash, Ellen Zhang and the editorial staff of Beijing; Camille Raynaud)
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