Economic activity remains weak in China. April’s industrial output was up 9.3% in April from March’s 8.9%, a seven-month low, but short of expectations of 9.5% growth. The recovery that started in the second half of last year is not gathering any momentum. Second-quarter growth is on track to be little better than the first quarter’s 7.7%, and likely less than 8%.
That is testing policymakers’ patience. They would like to stimulate short-term growth, but are already running loose monetary policy. Any further loosening risks pushing up consumer prices and further inflating asset bubbles, particularly property prices. Meanwhile, state-led infrastructure construction spending, which has been a big driver of growth since the 2008 global financial crisis, is running out of steam and effectiveness, and the debt overhang, as much as 20 trillion yuan ($3.25 trillion), is a worry in Beijing.
The temptation, particularly for provincial and local officials, is to fall back on the tried and trusted remedy to provide a short-term boost to growth, but that also delays the necessary long-term rebalancing of the economy to which the new leadership repeatedly says it is committed. For now, policy makers are likely to stay their course, but they badly need some growth to steady their nerves. With the global economy sluggish, that is more out of their hands than they would like.
China Bystander 
Pingback: Risks to China recovery seen as factory output underwhelms | China Daily Mail