China Q4 GDP growth slows to 6.4 percent, as expected

The September-December growth rate was the weakest expansion since the financial crisis, data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed, adding to fears of a sharper slowdown in global growth.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected gross domestic product to expand 6.4 percent in the October-December quarter.

China’s economy grew 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday, in line with expectations and slower than the previous quarter’s 6.5 percent growth.

The September-December growth rate was the weakest expansion since the financial crisis, data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed, adding to fears of a sharper slowdown in global growth.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected gross domestic product to expand 6.4 percent in the October-December quarter.

For all of 2018, the world’s second-largest economy grew 6.6 percent — its slowest expansion in 28 years and cooling from a revised 6.8 percent in 2017, official data showed on Monday. Analysts had expected 6.6 percent.

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"Economic Expansion, GDP Growth, Better Corporate Earnings Big Positives For Market"

Mehraboon Irani expresses his views on the current market situations.

Chinese policymakers are expected to ramp up support for the economy this year to avert a sharper slowdown but analysts say activity may not stabilise until summer, adding pressure on Beijing to strike a deal with Washington to end their trade war.

On a quarterly basis, gross domestic product (GDP) rose 1.5 percent in Oct-Dec, compared with 1.6 percent in the previous three months, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Analysts had expected 1.5 percent.