China's Economic Growth Shows Signs of Weakening in November 2025

Industrial Production and Retail Sales Disappoint

China's economic performance showed signs of weakening in November 2025, with industrial production growth slowing to 4.8% year-on-year, down from 4.9% in October ¹

. This marks the slowest growth since August 2024 and fell short of the 5.0% forecast in a Reuters poll ³

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Retail sales, a key indicator of consumption, grew only 1.3% in November, representing the weakest performance since December 2022 when China ended its 'zero-COVID' restrictions ³

. This figure was significantly below both October's 2.9% growth and the 2.8% consensus estimate ³

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https://internasional.kontan.co.id/news/alarm-ekonomi-china-output-pabrik-melambat-konsumsi-tertekan-krisis-properti

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Challenges Mounting for Policymakers

The economic slowdown is attributed to several factors: the fading impact of trade-in subsidies, the ongoing property sector crisis, and risky industrial investment that threatens to deepen deflationary pressures ²

. With these challenges mounting, Beijing is increasingly relying on exports as a growth driver. However, this strategy faces headwinds as trading partners become more resistant to China's massive trade surplus, now around $1 trillion ³

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https://internasional.kontan.co.id/news/alarm-ekonomi-china-output-pabrik-melambat-konsumsi-tertekan-krisis-properti

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Implications for Future Policy

The weakening economic indicators strengthen calls for more aggressive policy reforms to stimulate domestic demand. As Xu Tianchen, senior economist at Economist Intelligence Unit, noted, "Strong exports have limited the need to aggressively boost domestic demand this year, and trade-in subsidies are running out" ³

. The challenge for Chinese policymakers will be to balance export reliance with domestic economic stimulus as they head into 2026.