The Chinese economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, with slowing manufacturing activity, high cost of raw materials and the impact of the emergence of new outbreaks of the Corona virus on the momentum of recovery.
On Thursday, official data showed that gross domestic product grew 7.9% in the April-June quarter from the previous year, missing expectations for an 8.1% increase in a Reuters poll of economists.
Growth slowed sharply after registering a record 18.3 percent increase in the January-March period, when the year-on-year growth rate fell sharply due to the recession caused by "Covid-19" in the first quarter of 2020.
While the world's second-largest economy has rebounded sharply from the "Covid-19" crisis, buoyed by strong export demand and policy support, data in recent months indicates some decline in momentum.
High raw material costs, supply shortages and pollution control controls are affecting industrial activity, while limited outbreaks of COVID-19 have limited consumer spending.
The National Bureau of Statistics said gross domestic product rose 1.3 percent on a quarterly basis in the April-June period, beating expectations for a 1.2 percent increase in a Reuters poll.
The office revised down growth in the first quarter of the fourth quarter of last year to 0.4%.
Bureau of Statistics data also showed that China's industrial output grew 8.3% in June from a year ago, slowing from an 8.8% rise in May.
Economists in the poll expected a rise of 7.8% on an annual basis.
Retail sales grew 12.1% from a year earlier in June.
Analysts in the poll expected a rise of 11%, after May's rise of 12.4%.