China retail sales,industrial output up in October

By SCOTT McDONALD

BEIJING

China's retail sales and industrial output both jumped in October from the same month a year earlier, further signs that its economic recovery is firmly on track, the government said Wednesday.

The key inflation rate, the consumer price index, was down 0.5 percent in October from the same month last year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The monthly figures provide the latest evidence the world's third-largest economy will meet or surpass the government's goal of 8 percent economic growth for the full year.

Bureau spokesman Sheng Laiyun told a news conference retail sales were up a robust 16.2 percent in October from the same month last year, while industrial output rose 16.1 percent over the same period.

Fixed asset investment for the first 10 months of the year surged 33.1 percent compared to the year-ago period, Sheng said.

China has rebounded faster and stronger than other major economies from the world economic crisis, with flowing government spending and bank lending pushing up economic expansion by 8.9 percent in the third quarter.

Companies, central bankers and political leaders around the world are increasingly counting on growing demand from Chinese producers and consumers to offset sluggish home markets. Much of China's growth is coming from government-backed spending on construction and other projects, but demand from China's traditionally frugal, still relatively poor consumers is also rising.

China's economy began to falter in late 2008 as exports plunged and thousands of factories shut down, throwing millions out of jobs. China fought back with a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus plan involving massive spending and bank lending for construction of infrastructure such as railways and roads to pump up the domestic economy.

Growth fell to a low of 6.1 percent in the first quarter, but rebounded to 7.9 percent in the second quarter, hitting 8.9 percent in the third compared with a year earlier.

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Associated Press researcher Bonnie Cao contributed to this report.