Tourism spending by urban residents more than doubled to 1.98 trillion yuan ($280 billion) in the first half of this year, official data showed. The picture shows Guangzhou South Railway Station on July 15, 2023.
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BEIJING — China said on Monday that gross domestic product grew 6.3% in the second quarter from a year earlier, below expectations.
The unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds hit a record high of 21.3% in June.
GDP grew 6.3 percent in the second quarter, up 0.8 percent from the first quarter and slower than the 2.2 percent quarter-on-quarter growth in the first three months of this year. Analysts polled by Reuters expected GDP to have grown 7.3% in the second quarter.
Retail sales rose 3.1% in June, slightly below expectations for a 3.2% rise. Among the retail sales, catering, sports and entertainment products, tobacco and alcohol saw the largest increase. Sales of automobiles, office supplies and daily necessities fell year-on-year in June. Online sales of physical goods rose 6.7% in June from a year earlier, a slower pace than May, according to CNBC calculations of official Wind Information data.
Industrial production rose 4.4% YoY in June, beating expectations for a 2.7% increase.
Fixed asset investment rose 3.8% in the first half, better than the expected 3.5%.
In June, the urban unemployment rate was 5.2%.
China ended its containment of Covid-19 in December. The initial economic rebound has run out of steam. The massive real estate sector has been struggling to recover, while exports have slumped as global demand slumps.
Inside China, sluggish consumer demand kept prices unchanged in June. The People’s Bank of China said last week that it expected inflation to fall in July, but expected it to pick up later in the year.
Domestic tourism has been a bright spot in the recovery. Tourism spending by urban residents more than doubled year-on-year to 1.98 trillion yuan ($280 billion) in the first half of this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Ministry of Culture and Tourism. However, tourism spending by rural residents rose by only about 40 percent during the period, the report said.
The first-half total was 2.3 trillion yuan, official data showed, down from the 2.78 trillion yuan reported for the first six months of 2019 before the outbreak.
Beijing said last week it would expand property support measures. Authorities also announced broad support for exports. The country has also extended tax breaks for electric vehicle purchases, a growing industry the government is keen to support.
But Beijing has shown reluctance to adopt bigger stimulus measures, especially as local government debt soars. A Politburo meeting expected later this month is likely to provide more details on economic policy.
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