MNI BRIEF: China Economy Continues To Recover in May

China's economy continued to recover over the last five months with production and consumption growing steadily, and industry upgrading, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed.

Industrial production increased 3.5% y/y in May, decelerating from April's 5.6% y/y increase, and weaker than the market consensus of 3.8%. The deceleration maintained the January-May period industrial output at 3.6% y/y. Retail sales registered a 12.7% y/y jump in May with the help of the five-day holiday at the beginning of the month, however this was down from the previous month's18.4% y/y rise, and behind the 13.9% y/y consensus.

Fixed-asset investment in the first five months registered a 4.0% y/y increase, slower than both the 4.7% growth in Jan-Apr and 4.4% consensus. Property investment fell 7.2% y/y, following the prior month's 6.2% decrease.

The economy continued to recover with more positive factors accumulating but China still needs to monitor challenges including the complex international environment as well as insufficient domestic demand, the NBS said.