China’s Lunar New Year registered underwhelming growth in consumer spending. At around 1.01 trillion yuan ($149 billion), consumers spent +8.5% more than they did during the previous year’s holiday season on retail and catering – but the growth rate was the slowest in atleast 8 years (based on Ministry of Commerce data).
China’ slowdown in economic growth, trade tensions with the U.S. and the nation’s plans to reduce debt apparently pulled back momentum of people’s spending appetite.
Auto purchases in the nation declined for the first time in almost three decades. Even tourist venues in the nation experienced a deceleration to +8.2 % growth in consumer spending (according to the state broadcaster CCTV citing data from the Ministry of Commerce), which is slower than the +12.6% rise last year.