Monday, March 17, 2025

Creating liberating content

NEW DELHI: Nagpur’s Mahal area witnessed violent clashes on Monday

Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) NEW DELHI:

Related News

NEW DELHI: Nagpur’s Mahal area witnessed violent clashes on Monday night following a dispute between two groups, leading to vandalism and arson. Several vehicles were set ablaze, and reports of

Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar (Image credit: BCCI/IPL) NEW DELHI: Star India batter Virat Kohli has thrown his full support behind Royal Challengers Bengaluru‘s (RCB) newly-appointed captain, Rajat Patidar, calling

Vivek Ramaswamy once again criticized the US education system. Ohio governor candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Monday lamented the education standard of US students and said students in China and Singapore are

‘Thank you my friend’: PM Modi joins Truth Social after Trump’s Fridman podcast post (Picture credit: AP) NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his debut on Truth Social on

The irreverent, unrepentantly political Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap welcomed a special guest onto the stage of its show in Melbourne, Australia, over St. Patrick’s Day weekend: the head of

Frank Rubio, who just like Sunita and Butch went for a 6-month space mission and had to stay for 371 days, said it takes two to three months to get

Trending News

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are on track for the worst-ever annual equity selloff in FY25 in rupee terms, driven by sustained outflows since October 2024. In the first two weeks

Top stocks to buy (AI image) Stock market recommendations: According to Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, the top stock picks for the week (starting March 17, 2025) are HPCL and

MUMBAI: IndusInd Bank may have overstated its net interest income in preceding quarters, research reports by brokerage houses said. As a result, the lender will take a significant hit in

NEW DELHI: India has achieved self-sufficiency in solar module manufacturing. But the feat has rendered domestic producers of polysilicon, wafers and ingots – the building blocks for modules – vulnerable

New Delhi: India and New Zealand decided to relaunch negotiations for a free trade agreement on Saturday after a gap of 10 years, a move aimed at deepening economic ties

Mumbai: A host of global and domestic factors are expected to weigh on investors’ sentiment when Dalal Street opens for trading on Monday. The escalating global tariff war between the

China retail sales strengthen at start of 2025, industrial data beats

Word Count: 440 | Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes


Pictured here is a Shanghai development under construction on Nov. 4, 2024.

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

China’s economy showed a modest pickup for the first two months of the year, according to data published Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics, as Beijing reiterated its plan to bolster domestic consumption.

Retail sales rose by 4.0% in the January-February period from a year ago, compared with the 3.7% year-on-year growth in December and in line with Reuters estimates.

Industrial production climbed 5.9% in the first two months of the year from a year ago, slower than the 6.2% growth in December, but faster than a 5.3% expansion forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll.

Fixed asset investment, reported on a year-to-date basis, rose by 4.1%, beating the 3.6% growth estimated by economists, a notable jump from the 3.2% increase last year.

The data comes shortly after Chinese policymakers unveiled a wide-ranging plan to stimulate domestic consumption, reiterating Beijing’s pledges to bolster residents’ income and household spending.

The notice, published Sunday, repeated Beijing’s plan to stabilize the stock market, establish a childcare subsidy scheme as well as boosting tourism.

While the high-level document appears to lack concrete implementation details, it provides a glance into Beijing’s stance toward addressing some deep-seated issues, such as the slowing income growth and insufficient social safety net, Lynn Song, chief China economist at ING, told CNBC via email.

“Directionally it is quite encouraging that policymakers are taking a sober look at these themes, and it should help the longer term transition to a consumption driven economy,” he added.

Growth target

Chinese leadership took on a hefty task by keeping a growth target of “around 5%” this year, a target seen harder to reach given rising trade tensions with the U.S. and entrenched deflationary pressure for the economy.

Economists say Beijing will likely need to provide stronger stimulus to achieve this year’s growth target and bolster domestic consumption to fill the hole left by potentially slowing exports. Exports contributed nearly a quarter of China’s GDP last year.

In a sign of a persistent drop in demand, China’s consumer price inflation in February fell below zero for the first time in over a year. Beijing revised down its annual inflation target to “around 2%” — the lowest in more than two decades — from above 3% in prior years, a move seen to show a degree of official acceptance of the current deflationary environment.

As part of an expanded fiscal package, Chinese leaders pledged at an annual parliamentary meeting earlier this month an additional 300 billion yuan ($41.5 billion) of ultra-long special treasury bonds for consumers’ subsidy support.

Still, beyond the trade-in program, the existing stimulus measures have barely targeted consumers directly.



Source link

Most Popular Articles

Sign In

Welcome ! Log into Your Account