China's manufacturing gauge hits 19-month low in February

Beijing [China]: In lieu of Lunar New Year holidays, China reported a 19-month dip in its official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index.

As per reports, China's National Bureau of Statistics said the PMI for the month of February was capped at 50.3, down from 51.3 in January, thus indicating possible contraction of growth.

Officials from the statistics bureau argued that the slowdown was largely due to a dip in business operations around the Lunar New Year holidays, coupled with declining production and demand.

Furthermore, the bureau stated that during the aforementioned period, factory activities also slowed down as the plants remained shut on account of festivities.

In this regard, key economists stated that China would witness a decline in growth at the beginning of the current year, along with a broad softening in demand, with new export orders being particularly weak, reports CNBC.

Meanwhile, the official PMI for services also witnessed a decline, down from 55.3 in January to 54.4 in February.

However, experts say the Chinese economy would pick up later in the year, owing to the government's reported crackdown on polluting industries and high debt levels.

On a related note, China's PMI is an index compiled and summarised through the results of the monthly survey of enterprises purchasing managers and focuses primarily on large companies and state-owned enterprises.