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.
NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui acknowledged in a news conference a "complex and volatile international environment" and domestic "high temperatures and heavy rainfall... that disrupted market supply and demand".
Separate NBS data showed industrial production rose 4.5 percent on-year last month, an improvement from April's 4.1 percent, which had been the slowest growth in nearly three years.
But in another gloomy sign, fixed-asset investment slid 4.1 percent on-year in January-May, a significant widening from the 1.6 percent drop in January-April.
