China's economy appears to have cooled at the start of the year. From Bloomberg:
China’s industrial output had the weakest start to a year since 2009 and lending and retail sales growth slowed, toughening challenges for a new leadership that wants to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
Production increased 9.9 percent in the first two months and retail sales rose 12.3 percent, government data showed March 9, trailing economists’ estimates. New local-currency loans in February fell to 620 billion yuan ($99.6 billion), the People’s Bank of China said yesterday, lower than the estimates of 27 out of 28 analysts in a Bloomberg News survey.
However, fixed-asset investment was greater than expected.
Fixed-asset investment excluding rural areas in the first two months of the year rose 21.2 percent, against a median economist estimate of 20.7 percent and a 20.6 percent pace for the whole of 2012.
Also, inflation in China accelerated in February. From AFP/CNA:
The consumer price index -- a main gauge of inflation -- rose 3.2 per cent year-on-year in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.
It was a spike from January's 2.0 per cent and the highest since April last year, when it climbed 3.4 per cent.
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