China’s Economic Anchors Show Growth Divide Is Getting Wider

China’s consumer-sensitive sectors are lagging further behind growth in industries linked to manufacturing and tech, illustrating a sharp divide in an economy increasingly exposed to foreign demand.

Whereas expansion in hotels and catering services and wholesale and retail trade softened to the weakest of the post-pandemic era, the sector spanning software and information technology increased over 11% last year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. It was the biggest gain among all industries tracked by the NBS in its quarterly report of growth by sector.