Power use, railway cargo provide economic encouragement

BEIJING - Electricity consumption and railway cargo volume, two key indicators of economic performance, are showing encouraging signs of growth, China's national economic planner said on Sunday.

China used 463.34 billion kilowatt hours of electricity from Aug 1 to 28, up 2.97 percent year-on-year. The growth rate was 6.54 percentage points higher than in the equivalent period last year and 4.97 percentage points higher than in July, according to a statement on the website of the National Development and Reform Commission.

The commission said it expects power consumption for the whole of August to grow 3 percent year-on-year and that it will continue to climb in September.

Meanwhile, the commission said, rail freight companies shifted 5.8 percent more cargo in July this year than July last year.

These trends were backed up by figures from key provinces.

In East China's Jiangsu province, industrial power consumption is expected to climb 6 percent year-on-year in August. Public power consumption in Guangdong Province this month is set to be 2 percent higher than in August 2014, even though the population have been less likely to blast their air-conditioning in this relatively cool Guangdong summer. The growth rate is expected to be 4 percentage points higher than July.