THE country’s economy showed further signs of fatigue in November, with factory output growth slowing more than expected and growth in investment near a 13-year low, putting pressure on policymakers to unveil fresh stimulus measures.

    In a sign that banks were already responding to the Central Government’s instructions to reflate the economy, however, new lending jumped 56 percent in the month.

    Weighed down by a sagging housing market, China’s economic growth had already weakened to 7.3 percent in the third quarter, so November’s soft factory and investment figures suggest full-year growth will miss the government’s 7.5 percent target and mark the weakest expansion in 24 years.

    “The data bode ill for GDP growth in the fourth quarter, which is bound to slow further,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

    Growth in real estate investment also slipped for the first 11 months of 2014, though property sales registered their best month this year, buoyed by the government’s efforts to revive a sector on which so much of the economy depends.

    After September’s move to cut mortgage rates and down payments for some homebuyers, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) cut interest rates Nov. 21 for the first time in two years.

    The surprise rate cut signaled policymakers’ growing concern that a sharper slowdown in the economy would raise the risk of job losses and loan defaults.

    Factory output rose 7.2 percent in November from a year earlier, down from October’s 7.7 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday, and missing analysts’ forecasts of 7.5 percent.

    Fixed-asset investment, an important driver of growth, grew 15.8 percent in the first 11 months from the same period last year, slipping from 15.9 percent in the first 10 months.

    Other data last week showed China’s export growth slowed sharply in November, while imports unexpectedly shrank.

    And despite the resulting expansion in the money supply, consumer inflation hit a five-year low, stoking expectations that the government may move more aggressively to stave off deflation, including a cut to banks’ reserve requirement ratio (RRR), which would allow them to lend still more.

    The closure of many factories in northern China early in November to reduce air pollution as Asia-Pacific leaders met in Beijing likely curbed industrial output, but demand for products such as concrete and steel was also hit by slackening growth in export orders and the cooling housing market.

    A bright spot in November was retail sales, where growth ticked up to 11.7 percent from 11.5 percent in October, which was the slowest pace since early 2006.(SD-Agencies)