BEIJING: Chinese economy recorded a slowest growth since 2009 and would possibly miss its official target for the first time in 15 years.
China’s GDP grew 7.3 percent in the 3rd quarter from a year earlier, official data showed on Tuesday, the weakest rate since the first quarter of 2009.
That was slightly above the 7.2 percent forecast by analysts but slower than 7.5 percent in the second quarter, and even then some economists were surprised.
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.
The data added to expectations that growth will come in below the official 2014 target of 7.5 percent, which would be the first miss since 1999.
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.
A weakening property market continued to weigh on broader activity in the third quarter, with revenue from property sales revenue and new construction tumbling in the first nine months of 2014, blunting the impact of earlier stimulus measures and a long-awaited pick-up in exports.
With house price declines spreading to a record number of cities and new construction tumbling, the government last month cut mortgage rates for some home buyers for the first time since the global financial crisis.
Other data showed factory output rose 8.0 percent in September from a year earlier, beating expectations and marking a recovery from August’s six-year low of 6.9 percent.
