China’s manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in five months, in a sign the government’s measures to counter an economic slowdown are gaining traction.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 50.8 in May, the National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said yesterday in Beijing, compared with the 50.7 median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. April’s reading was 50.4, with numbers above 50 indicating expansion.
The Communist Party has stepped up the pace of stimulus measures, including faster spending from government budgets and increased railway investment, to help meet an official growth target of about 7.5 per cent this year.
The cabinet said last week it would cut reserve requirements for some lenders, as authorities contend with a property-market slump.
“The so-called mini-stimulus is helping to stabilize the economy,” said Liu Li-Gang, chief Greater China economist at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd in Hong Kong, though the “central government needs to make a bigger move”. – (Bloomberg)
