<div id="readability-page-1"><div id="parent_top_div">China's economic growth lost steam in April as industrial output and retail sales growth sharply missed expectations, as the Asian powerhouse grappled with higher energy costs from the Iran war and sluggish domestic demand. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Monday that factory output grew 4.1 per cent from a year earlier last month, compared with a 5.7 per cent rise in March and a Reuters poll forecast for 5.9 per cent growth. It marked the slowest growth since July 2023. Retail sales, a gauge of consumption, rose just 0.2 per cent in April, cooling sharply from 1.7 per cent in March and marking the weakest gain since December 2022. The figures were also well below forecast, centred on a 2 per cent increase. Household consumption has remained fragile. Domestic car sales dropped 21.6 per cent in April from a year earlier, marking the seventh straight month of decline, even as automakers ramped up efforts to expand in overseas markets to offset weakness at home. Adding to the gloom, fixed-asset investment contracted 1.6 per cent in the first four months of 2026, compared with a 1.7 per cent rise in the January-March period. Economists pointed to a drop in the official construction purchasing managers' index, and heavy rainfalls in parts of southern China as some of the factors dragging on investment growth. The April figures offered early signs that China's first-quarter momentum was already fading. The economy expanded 5.0 per cent in the first three months of the year, at the upper end of Beijing's full-year target range of 4.5 per cent to 5.0 per cent. But analysts have warned that the recovery is running on uneven ground as industrial output continues to outstrip domestic demand. While a protracted downturn in the property market remains a drag on growth, the Middle East conflict has exposed the economy to external risks at a time of fragile consumption at home. China's property investment contraction widened in April year-on-year. Better-than-expected exports and China's domestic fuel-pricing controls have helped weather the energy shock, but higher input costs could squeeze manufacturers' margins and further hurt household spending if the conflict drags on. Top Chinese leaders have pledged to strengthen the country's energy security, accelerate technological self-sufficiency and seek greater control of supply chains in response to external shocks. <div> The Politburo also reiterated China's &#34;proactive&#34; fiscal stance and &#34;appropriately loose&#34; monetary policy, language broadly in line with previous meetings and suggesting no imminent additional stimulus plans. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)</div> </div></div>

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沪深300

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中国的经济增长在四月份放缓，工业产出增长 4.1%，零售销售仅增长 0.2%，均未达到预期。国内汽车销售下降 21.6%，连续七个月下滑。2026 年初固定资产投资收缩 1.6%。经济学家指出，疲弱的国内需求和来自中东冲突的外部风险是影响因素。尽管第一季度增长 5.0%，分析师警告复苏不均，房地产市场的低迷继续影响增长

China's April growth slows as factory output, retail sales miss forecasts

- 中国 4 月经济增速放缓，工业产出和零售销售大幅低于预期。  
- 工厂产出增长仅 4.1%，零售销售增幅仅为 0.2%。  
- 投资收缩及消费疲软使经济面临外部风险。

中国四月份的经济增长放缓，工厂产出和零售销售未达到预期