China: Industrial production growth shoots up on policy stimulus in March
April 17, 2019
Industrial production increased 8.5% year-on-year in March, well above the 5.3% rise registered in January–February. The print overshot market expectations of a 5.9% increase and was the strongest result in over four years.
The reading reflected sizeable accelerations in all subcategories of the index, especially in the manufacturing sector.
On a month-on-month basis, industrial production increased 1.00% in seasonally-adjusted terms in March, more than doubling the 0.46% increase in February. Annual average growth in industrial production, meanwhile, rose from 5.9% in February to 6.2% in March.
Government support is slowing bearing some fruit and propelled industrial production growth in March. Moreover, industrial production likely benefited from the production of 5G infrastructure and equipment.
China Industrial Production Forecast
FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast participants expect industrial production to rise 5.9% in 2019, which is unchanged from the previous month’s forecast. In 2020, the panel sees industrial production growth decelerating to 5.7%.
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