Economics
China Stimulus Kicks in to Help Keep 2014 Growth Near Target
Employees install brake pads on a BYD Co. S6 sport-utility vehicle (SUV) at the company's assembly plant in the Pingshan district of Shenzhen, China,
Photographer: Brent Lewin/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
China’s stimulus efforts kicked in late last year, boosting production and consumer spending, and helping full-year economic growth come close to the government’s target.
Industrial output and retail sales for December beat the median estimates of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. While not enough to prevent China from recording the weakest annual expansion since 1990, the gains helped ensure gross domestic product growth of 7.4 percent for 2014 -- in line with Premier Li Keqiang’s target.