China’s remaining growth engines are showing signs of faltering, while the property market continues to weigh on the economy, underscoring the urgency of government intervention to keep an increasingly remote growth target in sight.
Factory activity shrank for a fourth straight month in August, with sub-indices showing deepening deflationary pressures. The latest sales figures showed a worsening residential slump, after China Vanke — one of the country’s biggest developers — underscored the industry’s woes on Friday night by reporting its first half-year loss in more than two decades.
Beijing has struggled to contain the property crisis and now faces the prospect of rising protectionism and a shaky global outlook weighing on exports. Several rounds of measures aimed at reviving domestic demand have done little to reverse the slump, jeopardizing the government’s growth target and prompting economists to call for additional stimulus.
