The growth rate of China has been forecasted to be between 6.5 and 7 by the private sectors, which is second to that of India, with a growth rate expected to be 7.5% by global Monetary Fund (IME).
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It adds further pressure on Beijing to cut interest rates again and take other measures to stimulate activity.
While Chinese officials put a courageous face on China’s economic woes, describing the slowdown as being “reasonable”, senior leaders have occasionally voiced worries.
At a news conference, NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun blamed a weak recovery in the world economy and expectations of a USA interest rate hike for China’s woes, as well as domestic overcapacity in industries ranging from steel to concrete.
JP Morgan economist Zhu Haibin said strong service-sector growth figures were “somewhat puzzling” as China’s stock market correction “should have led to service sector deceleration”. A 36 percent rise in E-commerce spending is noticed in the third quarter over a year earlier.
The growth, though it beat most economists’ estimates of 6.8 percent, still came below the government’s target of 7 percent expansion this year.
The not-so-great news: Policy-makers and investors hoping a resurgent China will revert back to its role as global growth turbocharger are set to be disappointed.
Chirathep Senivongs Na Ayudhya, spokesman of the Bank of Thailand, said the slight slip in China’s supply-side GDP growth from 7 per cent in the second quarter to 6.9 per cent in the third quarter was as expected by the central bank.
Many analysts had predicted growth of 6.8% following volatile trading in Chinese stocks over the summer and a string of weak economic data.
Will China’s Falling Economic Growth Affect the World Economy? The government has cut interest rates five times since November and boosted infrastructure spending in recent months to keep growth from sliding too far below this year’s target for about 7%. Property investment grew 2.6 percent year on year, while retail sales of consumer goods rose 10.5 percent.
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Official data showed that China’s economy expanded 6.9 percent on-year in the third quarter compared with analysts’ prediction of 6.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index was also little changed in response to the data.
