China’s monthly index of manufacturing activity rebounded slightly in May after having slowed the previous month, a report on Saturday said.
The Purchasing Managers’ Index for the manufacturing sector climbed to 50.8 per cent in May, up slightly from 50.6 per cent in April, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said.
The 50-per-cent mark denotes the divide between expansion and contraction.
The index has remained above 50 per cent since October, which the government has said is a sign that it had arrested a slowdown in growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
In the first quarter of 2013, China’s economic growth was a weaker-than-expected 7.7 per cent.
China’s annual economic growth fell to 7.8 per cent last year, the slowest since 1999, down from 9.3 per cent in 2011 as China dealt with slowing demand for its exports amid the eurozone debt crisis and uncertainty over the US economic recovery as well as growing production costs, including rising wages.