China says retail sales growth hit three-year low in November

December 15, 2025 / 10:52 AM

People visit a shopping mall in Beijing on December 14

Sharjah24- AFP: China's retail sales grew last month at their slowest pace in nearly three years, official data showed Monday, underlining the tough battle leaders face in kickstarting consumption in the world's number two economy.

Beijing has in recent years sought to revive sentiment in the domestic economy, which has been battered by a prolonged debt crisis in the country's vast property market.

Reversing the slump has become a top priority for leaders, who have vowed repeatedly to boost weak activity at home even as exports to the rest of the world boom.

Retail sales, a key indicator of consumption, edged up 1.3 percent year-on-year in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said -- the weakest pace since December 2022, when stringent zero-Covid measures ended.

The reading was also well short of a Bloomberg forecast of 2.9 percent, which was the same as October's figure.

Despite the spending slump, China's economy has been supported by robust exports, which have remained resilient in the face of this year's fierce trade war with the United States.

The boom in shipments has kept production humming in the manufacturing powerhouse, which has already reached a historic trade surplus of more than $1 trillion this year.

But the official data showed Monday that factory activity growth weakened last month, with industrial production sliding to 4.8 percent year-on-year -- the slowest in more than a year.

That figure narrowly missed a Bloomberg forecast of five percent and was also slightly down from 4.9 percent in October.

Spenders cautious

In a further sign of mounting pressure this year, fixed-asset investment through the end of November was down 2.6 percent compared with the same period in 2024, the NBS said Monday.

Leaders last week held a key meeting focused on the economy at which they pledged to boost consumption, stabilise the property market and create more employment opportunities, state media reported.

The annual closed-door discussions see officials deliberate core economic strategy for the year ahead, though specific policy announcements are not typically made.

Economists have long called for Beijing to shift towards a growth model powered more by domestic spending than traditional engines of past decades like exports and manufacturing.