China’s factory output and retail sales posted their slowest growth in more than a year in October, increasing pressure on policymakers to reinvigorate the $19 trillion export-driven economy as the trade war with the United States and sluggish domestic demand weigh on growth.

Policymakers acknowledge the need for change to address historical supply-demand imbalances, lift household consumption and tackle towering local government debt that keeps provinces — many with economies the size of nations — from being self-reliant.

All the same, they also recognise structural reform will be painful, and is fraught with political risk at a time when Trump’s trade war has ramped up pressure on the economy.

China’s exports unexpectedly crumbled in October, data showed last week, as producers strugg

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