China’s economic growth slows to 4.9% in third quarter

Shanghai, China, Oct 18 (EFE).- China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.9 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, down from the 7.9 percent growth in the second, official data published Monday showed.

The third-quarter growth is slightly lower than expected by analysts, who had forecast the economy to grow by around 5 percent.

The growth eased to 0.2 percent in July-September from 1.3 percent in the second quarter.

At the end of September, China’s total wealth reached 82.31 trillion yuan ($12.8 trillion) in nominal terms after increasing by 9.8 percent year-on-year since the beginning of the year.

In the first quarter of 2021, GDP increased 18.3 percent year-on-year thanks to the comparative base effect as the pandemic hit the first three months of 2020 in China and caused an unprecedented economic slowdown in the country.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) pointed out that the main indicators, including GDP, remained in a “reasonable range” until September and that the national economy “continued to resume its growth” despite a “complex and tough” environment domestically and globally.

“The overall national economy maintained the recovery momentum in the first three quarters,” said NBS spokesman Fu Linghui.

“However, we must note that the current uncertainties in the international environment are mounting and the domestic economic recovery is still unstable and uneven.”

China did not set a growth target in 2020 as the world battled the devastating effects of the pandemic.

But the government this year set a goal of “more than 6%” growth, less than usual and below what analysts expected.

Global financial institutions are more optimistic about China.

For example, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the Chinese economy will grow at 8 percent in 2021, although it represents a one-tenth decline compared to its previous calculation.

In 2020, after the collapse of the first quarter, the Chinese economy grew upwards and ended with a 2.3 percent growth. EFE

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