China economic growth edges down to 6.8 per cent last quarter

China’s economy grew 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015.

Softening trade and manufacturing have fueled concerns about the Chinese economy, which has been struggling with stock market routs and mounting debts to local governments.

The figure is in line with the median 6.9% increase forecast by 15 economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

The quarterly growth rate of China’s GDP has been in an intermediate-term downtrend over the past five years, a period when the country’s economy has seemed increasingly subject to the so-called Law of Large Numbers, which in this context holds a massive entity that is growing rapidly can not maintain this pace in perpetuity.

“China expects this year’s summit to promote the leading role and the ambition of the G20 in the global economy”. Beijing had been forecasting full-year growth of around 7 per cent. Some market watchers believe real growth levels may be much weaker than official data suggest.

Growth in fixed asset investment rose 10 per cent, dragged down by a marked slow-down in property investment as the sector was hit by oversupply of apartments following a two-decade long building frenzy.

Retail sales for December climbed 11.1 percent from a year earlier, a little lower than expected.

Data on Monday showed China’s home prices continued to rise in December 2015, adding to signs of improvements in the housing market, which accounts for about 13 percent of GDP.