China reports growth in the consumer economy

China reported major economic data on Thursday that pointed to faster growth on the consumer side while both industrial production and investment grew at a slower pace in July.

Figures released on Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics showed China's retail sales, a key measurement of consumer spending, grew by 2.7 percent year-on-year in July, up from the 2 percent growth in June. 

China's value-added industrial output, a gauge of activity in the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors, grew by 5.1 percent in July from a year earlier after a 5.3 percent rise in June. 

In the January-July period, fixed-asset investment, a gauge of expenditures on items including infrastructure, property, machinery and equipment, rose by 3.6 percent compared with a year earlier, while in the January-June period, it grew by 3.9 percent year-on-year.

The surveyed urban jobless rate came in at 5.2 percent in July versus 5 percent in June, according to the NBS. 

Despite the stable economic performance in July, the NBS highlighted challenges including mounting negative factors from the external environment, lack of effective demand domestically, and "growing pains in the transition between old and new growth drivers".

The bureau emphasized the need to strengthen macro regulation, stating that more efforts should be made to fully implement existing policy measures and consolidate the momentum of the sustained economic recovery.