China’s remaining growth engines are showing signs of spluttering while the property market continues to drag on the economy, highlighting the urgency of government intervention to keep an increasingly unlikely growth target in sight.
Factory activity contracted for a fourth straight month in August, with subindexes showing deepening deflationary pressures. The latest sales figures showed a worsening residential slump, after China Vanke — one of the nation’s biggest developers — underlined the industry’s woes late Friday by reporting a half-year loss for the first time in more than two decades.
Beijing has struggled to contain the property downturn and now faces the prospect of increasing protectionism and a shaky global outlook weighing on exports. Several rounds of measures aimed at reviving domestic demand have done little to reverse the retreat, endangering the government’s growth target and spurring economists to call for additional stimulus.
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