China retail sales beat forecast despite trade war tensions

BEIJING, June 16 (AFP): Retail sales in China grew at a faster rate than expected last month, official data showed Monday, a positive sign for the world's second-largest economy during its grinding trade war with the United States.

The key gauge of consumer demand grew 6.4 per cent year-on-year in May, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The figure beat the 4.9 per cent growth forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists and was also sharply up from April's 5.1 per cent increase.

However, the NBS also said industrial production grew a below-par 5.8 per cent.

Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, wrote in a note that the retail sales figures "came as a surprise", but warned the economic outlook for the rest of the year was uncertain.

The NBS said the economy "maintained stability" last month as authorities "stepped up the implementation of more proactive and effective macro policies".