Chinese economic growth dips below 7%

Here’s what they had to say: “Unfortunately, these figures need to be taken with a grain of salt as official GDP growth appears to have become a poor gauge of the performance of China’s economy”, Julian Evans-Pritchard, economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note to clients.

This is the first time the quarterly growth rate has dropped under 7 percent since the second quarter of 2009.

The Chinese central bank has already cut interest rates five times over the past year, from 6 per cent to 4.6 per cent, in the face of flagging economic activity.

China’s economy has been seeing constant steep deterioration in this quarter, but the stronger consumer spending has made it better blocking deeper downturn.

Europe’s main stock markets have closed mixed on Chinese stimulus hopes following news that China’s economy grew in the third quarter at its slowest pace for six years.

National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Sheng Laiyun said downward pressure was here to stay until the mainland completed its economic restructuring.

“If you look at growth in rail cargo traffic, electricity consumption and demand for loans, three metrics favoured by Prime Minister Li, the picture is not so healthy”.

Though China is going through a decline in growth rates, there is a simultaneous increase in the income of the Chinese as recorded. Its slowdown has unnerved global markets and held down worldwide economic growth, especially in countries such as Brazil and Australia that export raw materials to China. But a 2-percentage-point drop in property investment growth during the third quarter and the 33.8% plunge in developers’ purchase of land between January and September indicate that the outlook in the property market remains pessimistic, the report said.

Brent lost 77 cents, or 1.53%, to $49.69 a barrel, while US crude was down 53 cents, or 1.11%, at $47.19.

Industrial production in China increased by 5.7% in September 2015, 0.4% lower than in August 2015.

The official adds that China will speed up the development and innovation and build on the service sector to maintain growth. China accounted for 13.3 percent of global GDP past year, from less than 5 percent a decade earlier, according to World Bank data. Weak global demand makes it unlikely Beijing can meet its trade growth target of 6 percent for this year.

The data further supports President Xi Jinping’s talks during his USA visit in late September that “China’s economic fundamentals remain solid and will continue to maintain long-term steady growth”.