Reuters reports that data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that China's factory output and retail sales growth slowed sharply in July, as new COVID-19 outbreaks and floods disrupted business operations.

Industrial production increased 6.4% year-on-year in July. Analysts had expected output to rise 7.8% after growing 8.3% in June. Retail sales increased 8.5% in July from a year ago, far lower than the forecast 11.5% rise and June's 12.1% uptick.

China's economy has rebounded to its pre-pandemic growth levels, but the expansion is losing steam as businesses grapple with higher costs and supply bottlenecks. New COVID-19 infections in July also led to fresh restrictions.

Data earlier this month also showed export growth, which has been a key driver of China's impressive rebound from the COVID-19 slump in early 2020, unexpectedly slowed in July.

Fu Linghui, an NBS spokesperson, said at a briefing on Monday that China's recovery remains uneven due to sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks and natural disasters.

A growing number of analysts have been cutting their third quarter growth estimates for China. The country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7.9% in the April-June quarter from a year earlier.

ANZ downgraded its GDP forecast for 2021 to 8.3% from 8.8% after the disappointing July data.