China's economy remains stable in October: NBS

The Chinese economy maintained a steady recovery last month, with key industrial output and retail sales data growing at a faster pace, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

Industrial output, a key economic indicator, rose by 3.5 percent year-on-year in October, up from 3.1 percent in September and sending the two-year average growth to 5.2 percent in October, the NBS said.

Retail sales grew by 4.9 percent on a yearly basis last month, compared with 4.4 percent in September. On the two-year average basis, retail sales expanded by 4.6 percent in October, the bureau said.

The growth in fixed-asset investment (excluding rural households) came in at 6.1 percent year-on-year during the January-October period, compared with 7.3 percent in the first nine months of the year. The two-year average growth in fixed-asset investment reached 3.8 percent in the January-October period.

The surveyed urban jobless rate came in at 4.9 percent in October, the same with September, while the annual urban new employment target has been accomplished in advance last month, the NBS said.
Despite the overall stability, the NBS said there remain uncertain and unstable factors in the international environment as well as structural problems in the domestic economy.

"Stronger efforts should be made to keep the economy recovering steadily," the bureau said, calling for measures to strengthen cross-cycle macro policy adjustments, keep the economy within a reasonable range and ensure the achievement of main economic and social development targets for the year.