An excavator transfers coal at a coal terminal in east China's Jiangsu province on January 22, 2024.
STER | AFP | Getty Images
China's industrial profits fell 17.8% year-on-year in August National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.
The annual growth rate was 4.1% in July, the fastest pace in five months.
Industrial profits cover China's factories, mines and utilities.
In the first eight months of this year, profits of large industrial companies increased by 0.5% to 4.65 trillion yuan (US$663.47 billion), compared with a 3.6% increase in the first seven months.
The Chinese government this week stepped up efforts to support economic growth amid concerns that Beijing may miss its full-year GDP target of around 5%. Weak domestic demand, a prolonged slump in the housing market and rising unemployment are weighing on the world's second-largest economy.
China's top leader called on Thursday to curb the real estate slide and step up fiscal and monetary policy support, according to a readout from a high-level meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping.
The People's Bank of China on Friday officially cut the amount of cash required by banks, known as the deposit reserve ratio, or RRR, by 50 basis points. The central bank also lowered the seven-day reverse repurchase rate by 20 basis points to 1.5% from the previous 1.7%.
Central Bank Governor Pan Gongsheng announced the interest rate cut at a press conference on Tuesday.
In August, China's industrial activity, retail sales and urban investment growth rates were all lower than expected, with the annual growth rate of retail sales slightly above 2% and the annual growth rate of industrial production at 4.5%.
Among fixed asset investments, as of August, real estate investment fell by 10.2% for the whole year, the same decline as in July. The urban unemployment rate in August was 5.3%, up from 5.2% in the previous month.
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