China GDP: Deflategate Comes to Beijing

But it was the slowest quarterly growth rate since the first quarter of 2009.

That led to expectations that growth would correct downward in the third quarter after the Chinese stock market fell by a third from late June.

The same poll predicted economic growth of 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter, easing to 6.7 percent in the first of 2016. E-commerce spending leaped ahead, rising 36 percent in the third quarter over a year earlier.

“But robust consumption and infrastructure prevented a sharper slowdown, although concerns about the data will persist”, he said in a research note.

They could be seen in the industrial production data, in heavy industry and other sectors, he explained. The pain is widespread: South Africa and Zambia depend on coal exports to China, Chile on copper shipments, Australia on a range of commodity exports.

While the GDP figure was better than the 6.7 percent rate expected by economists surveyed by CNNMoney, it marks a deceleration from the 7 percent expansion in the first half of the year. It would be more than double the 3.1 percent growth forecast by the International Monetary Fund for the United States. What’s interesting about today’s announcement is the open skepticism with which the rest of the world is greeting even this weak figure, which, after all, still beat analysts’ estimates of 6.8%.

Economists were expecting the growth rate to ease to 6.8 percent.

After saying in early 2015 that a rise was expected as the United States economy picked up pace, bank policymakers have gradually lowered their expectations, with turmoil unleashed by China’s yuan depreciation in August playing a major role. It set a target of creating at least 10 million new jobs in 2015.

“All this indicates the restructuring and upgrading of the Chinese economy are going steadily”.

“China’s economic struggles are adding to the uncertainty that is already in place for the global economy, signaling that lower growth rates for the global economy may be in store”, a report Monday from the worldwide Strategic Analysis consulting firm warned.

But despite a slowdown in the industrial sector, Mr Sheng said the services sector is expected to grow rapidly.

However, consumer spending accelerated over the course of the quarter, helping to shore up the expansion. A few analysts expect to see a flattening in prices, while others expect a small gain.