Construction
at
China
Vanke
Co.’s
Isle
Maison
development
in
Hefei,
China,
on
Monday,
Nov.
27,
2023.
Bloomberg
|
Bloomberg
|
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Images
BEIJING
—
China
missed
fourth-quarter
GDP
estimates
on
Wednesday,
while
it
resumed
reporting
the
unemployment
rate
for
young
people.
GDP
for
the
last
three
months
of
2023
rose
by
5.2%,
according
to
China’s
National
Bureau
of
Statistics.
That’s
below
the
5.3%
forecast
in
a
Reuters
poll.
GDP
growth
for
the
full
year
was
also
5.2%.
“With
investment
in
the
property
sector
falling,
the
economy
is
more
dependent
on
the
manufacturing
sector
and
service
sector,”
Zhiwei
Zhang,
president
and
chief
economist
at
Pinpoint
Asset
Management,
said
in
a
note.
“This
transition
will
take
time
to
be
accomplished.
The
key
question
in
the
market
is
when
the
transition
in
the
property
sector
will
finish.”
Excluding
people
still
in
school,
the
unemployment
rate
for
young
people
aged
16
to
24
was
14.9%,
while
the
rate
in
cities
in
December
was
5.1%.
The
bureau
had
temporarily
suspended
the
release
of
the
younger
age
group’s
unemployment
rate
in
summer,
citing
the
need
to
reassess
calculation
methods.
That
unemployment
rate
had
previously
climbed
to
records
above
20%.
Retail
sales
grew
by
7.4%
in
December
from
a
year
ago,
missing
expectations
for
8%
growth.
Industrial
production
rose
by
6.8%
in
December
from
a
year
earlier,
beating
forecasts
for
6.6%
growth.
Fixed
asset
investment
for
2023
rose
by
3%,
a
touch
above
the
predicted
2.9%
increase.
Within
fixed
asset
investment, real
estate
dropped
by
9.6%
in
2023.
Investment
in
infrastructure
rose
by
5.9%
while
that
in
manufacturing
grew
by
6.5%.
Online
retail
sales
of
physical
goods
rose
by
8.4%,
accounting
for
nearly
28%
of
overall
retail
sales.
The
statistics
bureau
also
said
retail
sales
in
services
surged
by
20%
in
2023
from
a
year
ago.
Retail
sales
for
December
saw
a
29%
surge
in
jewelry
and
26%
increase
in
purchases
of
clothes
and
shoes.
Sales
of
daily
necessities, medicine,
cultural
and
office
products, as
well
as
construction-related
materials
fell
in
December.
China
had
abruptly
ended
its
Covid-19
controls
in
December
2022
and
people
had
rushed
to
buy
medicine
amid
widespread
illness
that
month.
The
statistics
bureau
said China’s population
shrunk
by
more
than
2
million
people
to
1.41
billion
in
2023
from
the
prior
year.
The
population
had
declined
by
850,000
people
in
2022
from
2021.
“We
must
effectively
enhance
economic
vitality,
prevent
and
mitigate
risks,
improve
social
expectations, consolidate
and
boost
the
sound
momentum
of
economic
recovery
and
growth,
in
a
bid
to
effectively
upgrade
the
quality
and
appropriately
expand
the
quantity
of
the
national
economy,”
the
bureau
said.
This
is
a
developing
story.
Check
back
for
updates.
