China’s Q3 GDP growth slowest in nine years

Beijing, October 19

China’s economy grew at 6.5 per cent in the third quarter, posting the slowest growth in nine years, amid intensifying trade war with the US and the mounting local government debt, which rose to $2.5 trillion.

The GDP expanded by 6.5 per cent in the July-to-September period year-on-year, according to official GDP figures released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday. It’s down from 6.8 per cent and 6.7 per cent in the first and second quarters, respectively.

The world’s second largest economy’s third quarter growth was the weakest year-on-year expansion since the 2009 global financial crisis.

The latest figures came as China faced rising economic challenges, including high debt levels and an intensifying tariff battle with Washington. US President Donald Trump imposed additional tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese exports to force Beijing to cut about $375 billion bilateral trade deficit.

The NBS said the GDP expanded 6.7 per cent y-on-y in the first three quarters of 2018 to about 65.09 trillion yuan. It said the pace was in line with market expectations and higher than the government target. — PTI