“China’s industrial companies’ profit- growth slowed after the government raised interest rates and curbed lending to rein in inflation and limit asset bubble risks.
Profit rose 29.7 percent in the first four months to 1.49 trillion yuan ($230 billion) from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its website today. That compared with a 32 percent gain in the first quarter of this year.
Premier Wen Jiabao is seeking to sustain growth in the world’s second-biggest economy to create jobs and maintain social stability while curbing inflation that has exceeded his target every month this year. The central bank has raised interest rates twice this year and the government has intensified its crack-down on speculation in theproperty market by introducing purchase limits in some cities.
“Profit growth is expected to slow because their revenue will not grow as fast as before as the economy cools down due to the tightening,” Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong, said before today’s release. “Manufactures will be facing higher costs of power as they have to generate electricity themselves due to the power shortage.”
The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks the bigger of China’s stock exchanges, dropped for a seventh day, falling 0.1 percent by the break at 11:30 a.m. local time. It has slid 4.4 percent this week.”
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
