China unveils stimulus measures as economic data beats forecasts
By Benjamin Chiou
Date: Monday 17 Mar 2025
(Sharecast News) - China unveiled a major stimulus plan on Sunday aimed at boosting domestic consumption, while a barrage of economic data from the government came in better than analysts' forecasts.
Beijing released details of a "special action plan", which includes measures such as increasing incomes for both urban and rural residents to life the minimum wage, providing more employment support and establishing a childcare subsidy system.
The initiatives are aimed at mitigating deflationary pressures and increasing households' capacity and willingness to spend.
China's State Council said the plan would "vigorously boost consumption, expand domestic demand in all directions, improve consumption capacity by increasing income and reducing burdens".
The news came on the same day as a flurry of leading economic indicators for February, including fixed asset investment, industrial production and retail sales, which met or beat consensus forecasts.
Fixed asset investment showed a year-on-year growth rate of 4.1%, ahead of the 3.6% expected, with higher investments in infrastructure and manufacturing offsetting a decline in real estate investment.
Industrial production growth slowed to 5.9% year-on-year from 6.2%, but came in ahead of the 5.3% forecast.
Meanwhile, retail sales growth picked up to 4.0% from 3.7%, in line with analysts' estimates.
The jobless rate for February, however, rose to 5.4% from 5.2%. This was ahead of the 5.1% consensus forecast and the highest rate since February 2023.
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