Bankcard consumer confidence rises

Chinese consumers using bank cards spent more money in November than the month before.

The consumer confidence boost comes after the country's economy showed more signs of improving - including stronger factory activity and retail spending ...

PKG

It's just what Chinese leaders hope for: Chinese people, spending more.

According to official data, the Bankcard Consumer Confidence Index - tracking card transactions - rose by 0.17 points to 86.63 in November from October.

Suggesting Chinese residents, are more willing to consume.

Consumer confidence was boosted by China's stabilizing growth, as manufacturing jumped for the third straight month, in November.

The purchasing managers' index, measuring factory output in China, rose to 50.6 percent in November, from just 50.2 percent in October...

Well above the 50-percent line of industrial expansion - suggesting China's economy, is rebounding.

But unlike before, demand is coming from within.

As the country's retail sales leapt 14.2 percent in November, from October - and 15 percent from a year ago.

The shopping surge comes just weeks after the then Chinese Communist Party Chief, Hu Jintao, vowed to improve people's livelihoods at the CPC's 18th National Congress.

In the report, Hu said, by 2020, China should double its 2010 GDP and per capita income for both urban and rural residents.

But with economic expansion, comes new fears of inflation - with everyday necessities, getting more expensive.

In November, China's consumer price index - the main gauge of inflation - ticked up 2 percent from one year ago, due to higher food prices.

Making the balancing act of boosting growth while keeping the lid on inflation, an even greater challenge for China's new leaders.