Trade activity in China remained weak in August said Chinese officials. This raised pressure on the central government of the country to help stimulate the country’s economy that has been shrinking of late. All of this is happening near the time when the once per decade transition of leadership takes place.
China’s imports were down 2.6% during August compared to the same month last year. Imports had increased during July by 4.6%. The drop in imports underlined how the demand has softened for commodities as well as raw materials. China’s exports increased during August by 2.7% compared to the same period a year ago, which was slightly up from exports in July.
The data that was reported on Monday for weak imports and exports came only a day after Chinese authorities said that industrial production had expanded at its lowest rate in over 36 months. Chinese officials said inflation was up by nearly 2% during the year’s second quarter, the weakest rate of increase since the 2008 financial crisis.
Over the last nine months, a number of different measures have been put into place to control the economy. Those measures include cuts in interest rates as well as in the reserve rates required by banks.
China has recently announced a significant number of projects for its infrastructure like adding new subway lines. It also unveiled subsidies to help with the growth of the economy that start next month following the expected transition of the central government’s leadership.
