Preliminary index confirms a general slowdown of the Chinese economy. Employment rate and product orders also drop. Analysts warn: "Pressure on jobs market is rising". Guarantee of 7% threshold for national growth at risk.

Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Chinese manufacturing activity slowed again in July, reaching its lowest level in the last 11 months: the preliminary HSBC / Markit Purchasing Managers index, anticipating official government data, in fact dropped to 47.7 compared to the end of June which remained at 48.2. For the third consecutive month the sector has failed to reach 50 points, the dividing line between expansion and contraction. The sub-index that measures changes in employment fell in July to 47.3 - the lowest since March 2009 - and even the rate of new orders fell to its lowest for 11 months.

According to various analysts, these data confirmed that the Chinese economy is losing its drive and that measures will be needed to stabilize growth at above 7%, the point of "no return" imposed by the central government for the development of the national economy . Qu Hongbin, chief China economist for HSBC, said: "The slowdown in the July data suggests that there is a continuing decline in the sector, caused by the decrease in new orders and a faster reduction of commercial stocks. This situation will put even more pressure on the labor market. "

According to Chinese authorities, the threshold of 7% for the general development of the national economy is fundamental: it ensures the creation of a number of jobs sufficient to ensure social stability. In the April-June period, the figure stabilized at 7.5% falling for the umpteenth time: the government and the international markets were not overly concerned about the situation, chalking it down to the international economic crisis.

 

 

• CHINA
• ECONOMY
• GROWTH
• RATE
• PRODUCTION
• LEVEL
• DECLINE
• SLOWDOWN