{
  "id": 13924674,
  "title": "China records growth in consumption and investment in Q3 2026",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/12/china-records-growth-in-consumption-and-investment-in-q3-2026",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-12T09:23:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Gulf Times Business",
    "slug": "gulf-times-business",
    "url": "https://www.gulf-times.com/article/735571/business/china-records-growth-in-consumption-and-investment-in-q3-2026"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "China's economy exhibited robust growth in the third quarter of 2026, driven by increased consumption, trade, and investment activities, according to official high-frequency data. Consumer activity rebounded strongly, with offline consumption payments surging 2.6% year-on-year in Q3, outpacing the 0.7 percentage point increase from Q2. September saw a further 3.1% rise in offline consumption payments compared to the same month a year prior, marking the third consecutive month of growth. Moreover, the volume of cargo ships entering and exiting major Chinese ports increased by 43.1% and 0.3% year-on-year respectively in Q3.\n\nInvestment in China also witnessed significant momentum, particularly in the form of special-purpose bonds. The issuance of these bonds rose by 50.2% year-on-year in September, a staggering 43.6 percentage points higher than the August level. The value of contracts awarded for new infrastructure projects, encompassing computing power, data, and networks, climbed 34.2% year-on-year in Q3 and 50.4% year-on-year in September alone. Capital investment in frontier sectors such as artificial intelligence and humanoid robots saw an extraordinary surge, increasing by 184.1% and 198.7% year-on-year in Q3 and September respectively.\n\nChina has set a growth target of 4.5-5% for 2026, aiming for even better results in practice. So far, the country's gross domestic product grew 4.7% year-on-year in the first half of the year. The manufacturing sector also showed signs of firming up, as activity returned to expansionary territory in September. The purchasing managers' index for China's manufacturing sector was recorded at 50.1 in September, while the business activity index for the non-manufacturing sector reached 50.2.",
  "summary": "China's economy continued to improve in the third quarter of this year, with new growth drivers gaining momentum, official high-frequency data on consumption, trade and investment showed.Consumer...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}