China’s economic growth slows to 7.3 percent in third quarter, near six-year low
China grew at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis in the September quarter and risks missing its official target for the first time in 15 years, adding to concerns the world’s second-largest economy is becoming a drag on global growth.
A pick-up in factory output and government confidence that the labor market remains stable were offset by further slowing in the property sector, and economists remained divided on whether or not authorities would step in with major stimulus measures such as interest rate cuts.
Premier Li Keqiang has stated repeatedly that authorities will tolerate growth slightly below target as they try to reshape the economy so it is driven more by domestic consumption and less by exports and investment.
Li has indicated that the leadership’s bottom line is maintaining employment to ward off social unrest, a policy priority. The government has said growth of 7.2 percent is needed to keep employment steady.
“The government has relaxed some controls recently and property sales may pick up in the fourth quarter. However, we may not see improvement in sectors like heavy industry and we expect the economy to continue to slow down.”
“While we do not see China will fall into a ‘hard landing’ scenario, we do see the risk of deflation is rising sharply,” ANZ economists said in a note.
Source: Reuters- China’s economic growth slows to 7.3 percent in third quarter, near six-year low
