Irrational numbers

13 July 2012 By John Foley Follow @johnsfoley

That figure doesn’t sound so bad; it’s what most economists expected. But industrial data and mounting tales of job culls and bankruptcies tell a more sober story. It looks worryingly like China is being propped up by bank lending, and a risky revival of the property sector.

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China’s GDP growth slowed to 7.6 percent in the first three months of 2012, measured against the same time a year ago. The growth rate was the slowest since the first quarter of 2009.
Electricity output was 393 billion kilowatt-hours in June, flat on the previous year. Over the first half of 2012, electricity production grew 3.7 percent over 2011 - less than a third the previous year’s growth rate.
China’s retail sales in June were up 13.7 percent on a year ago versus May’s 13.8 percent.
New loans totaled $144.43 billion in June, up from $124.364 billion in May.

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