<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>

上證指數

恆生科技指數

深證成指

恆生指數

中證500

中證1000

滬深300

國企指數

中國的經濟增長在四月份放緩，工業產出增長 4.1%，零售銷售僅增長 0.2%，均未達到預期。國內汽車銷售下降 21.6%，連續七個月下滑。2026 年初固定資產投資收縮 1.6%。經濟學家指出，疲弱的國內需求和來自中東衝突的外部風險是影響因素。儘管第一季度增長 5.0%，分析師警告復甦不均，房地產市場的低迷繼續影響增長

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

- 中國 4 月經濟增速放緩，工業產出和零售銷售大幅低於預期。  
- 工廠產出增長僅 4.1%，零售銷售增幅僅為 0.2%。  
- 投資收縮及消費疲軟使經濟面臨外部風險。

中國四月份的經濟增長放緩，工廠產出和零售銷售未達到預期