BEIJING (Reuters) – Profits at China’s industrial firms grew 19.6% on-year to 589.5 billion yuan ($85.58 billion), the statistics bureau said on Thursday, another sign that the economy’s recovery from the coronavirus shock is firming.
It follows an 11.5% gain in June and the third straight month of profit growth in this year.
For January-July, industrial firms’ profits fell 8.1% on an annual basis to 3.1 trillion yuan, improving from a 12.8% slump in the first six months.
Liabilities at industrial firms rose 6.5% on year at end-July, up from a 6.4% growth as of end-June.
China’s recovery had been gaining momentum after the pandemic paralysed huge swathes of the economy as pent-up demand, government stimulus and surprisingly resilient exports revived activity.
However, some signs of slowing have emerged in July, with industrial output growing slower than expected. Some analysts said flood and torrential rains have dampened activity and demand for electricity.
(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley and Roxanne Liu; Editing by Sam Holmes and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
