After two quarters of slowing down the Chinese economy has shown signs of stabilising with increased manufacturing activity easing contraction fears.
A survey from international bank HSBC set the country’s Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) at 50.1, from 47.7 in July. This puts the economy back in growth, with a figure of above 50 indicating expansion.
China has taken steps to boost its economic growth. Premier Li Keqiang rolled out measures to support growth, including tax breaks for small businesses and an increase in railway investment.
An index of export orders slid at a faster pace, indicating limits on the boost that China can expect from overseas orders.
Hongbin Qu, chief China economist at HSBC, said that the rebound was in part due to those measures.
“China’s manufacturing growth has started to stabilise on the back of modest improvements of new business and output,” he said.
“This is mainly driven by the initial filtering-through of recent fine-tuning measures and companies’ restocking activities, despite the continuous external weakness.”
