BEIJING, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Weaker-than-expected economic data added to the gloom in the world's second-largest economy, highlighting the need for Chinese policymakers to stabilize the rate of decline.
China's industrial value-added output growth slowed sharply in April to 9.2 percent, the lowest level since May of 2009. Retail sales rose 14.1 percent year-on-year last month, the lowest in 14 months, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.
Fixed asset investment in urban areas increased 20.2 percent year-on-year in the January-April period, the slowest pace since the 17.4-percent growth recorded in 2002. The growth of fiscal slowed sharply in April to 6.9 percent from March's 18.7-percent rise.
Friday's data also showed inflation eased, to 3.4 percent in April from 3.6 percent in March, giving more room for monetary easing, analysts said.
There have been continuous declines in the growth of investment, consumption and exports -- three engines powering the country's fast expansion, underscoring the need to stabilize economic growth, said Zhang Liqun, researcher of the Development Research Center of the State Council, a government think-tank.
The country's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.63 percent to 2,394.98 after the data release.
China's growth slowed to 8.1 percent in the first quarter of the year, the lowest level in nearly three years. The government in March set a growth target of 7.5 percent for this year.
"The rate of growth decline is faster than we thought," said Peng Wensheng, chief economist of the China International Capital Corp. However, he added that the economy may bottom out in the second or third quarter of this year, depending on the development of both domestic and international economic situations.
A reading of April's data suggested more aggressive actions should be taken to help the Chinese economy regain momentum, economists said.
Although the country's central bank remained optimistic about economic growth, Peng expected the central bank to loosen monetary policy in a more aggressive manner in the second quarter.
The central bank may cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for the country's banks at least once in the second quarter, and there was the increasing possibility that the central bank would cut benchmark interest rates in the coming months, he said.
As inflation concerns have gradually eased, the government has been taking cautious steps, including the lowering of the RRR in November 2011 and again in February this year, to loosen policies as it hopes to spur the slowing economy.
The government, which started fine-tuning its macro-economic policies in October, should now focus on encouraging investment and supporting the real economy by cutting tax rates to bolster development of small and medium-sized enterprises, said Wang Jun, a researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.
In terms of encouraging investment, the government should prioritize investments for major projects planned in the country's 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) period and projects to improve people's livelihoods, Zhang said.
However, analysts were not all negative on the data. Wang Xiaoguang, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Governance, an advisory body to the central government, said though the economic growth is declining, it offers a great opportunity for the country to adjust its economic growth pattern to ensure more sustainable development in the future.
