China retail sales fell in May for first time since 2022
China's retail sales fell last month for the first time in more than three years, data showed on June 16, as leaders of the world's second-largest economy struggle to kickstart domestic consumer activity.
Sales dropped 0.6 percent year-on-year in May, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, compared with the 0.2 percent forecast in a Bloomberg survey, which was itself in line with April's lacklustre performance.
While the Chinese economy has enjoyed a historic boom in exports, it has been dragged for years by weak household consumption that has so far failed to recover from the Covid pandemic.
Beijing is targeting overall growth of 4.5-5.0 percent this year, though soaring energy costs and uncertainty caused by the Middle East crisis have complicated matters.
