China's consumer spending picks up in October

BEIJING, Nov 16 (AFP): China's retail sales continued a general recovery in October, official data showed Monday, on the back of a national holiday and policies aimed at boosting spending.

Although China has largely brought the coronavirus under control, spending has been slower to recover as the world still grapples with the impact of the pandemic.

Beijing's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Monday that retail sales in the world's second-largest economy had risen 4.3 per cent on-year last month.

At a press briefing, spokesman Fu Linghui said the pandemic "has dealt a second blow to countries" including the United States and those in Europe, and that global recovery had "further stalled" as a result.

The figure is lower than the five per cent growth expected by analysts polled by Bloomberg, but still continued an upward trend as spenders gradually began to open their wallets again, particularly around the October 1 national holiday.

A recent report by financial services firm Nomura predicted that retail growth was likely to continue due to a relaxation of social distancing measures and "moderate policy measures to boost consumption".