For the two months of January and February, China industrial production grew 7.5% yoy, well above expectation of 3.9% yoy. That’s the fastest pace since June 2021. Retail sales rose 6.7% yoy, also well above expectation of 3.0% yoy, also the fastest since June 2021. Fixed asset investment rose 12.2% yoy, above expectation of 5.0% yoy, highest since July 2021.
Separately, PBoC unexpectedly kept the rate of CNY 200B worth of one-year medium term lending facility (MLF) loans to some financial institutions unchanged at 2.85%. The operation resulted in a net injection of CNY 100B funds to the market. The central bank said it is for “maintaining banking system liquidity reasonably ample”.
