(1888PressRelease)
November 02, 2008 - London, The third quarter growth rate, announced Monday was slower than the second quarter’s 10.1 percent, and significantly lower than 12.2 percent growth seen in the same period last year.
Li Xiachao, spokesperson of National Bureau of Statistics, said the impact of global financial crisis on the world’s fourth largest economy had far exceeded government expectations.
"The growth rate of the world economy has slowed down noticeably. There are more uncertain and volatile factors in the international economic climate," he said. "All these factors have started to release their negative impact on China's economy."
Despite many factories and power plants reopening in the last month after temporarily closing down during the Olympics, industrial production expanded sluggishly in September- rising 11.4 percent from a year earlier, than in August, when it grew 12.8 percent.
With factories reporting sharp cut in export orders and indicators from steel prices to housing sales suggesting a prolonged slump in the housing market, the Chinese economy could be headed for a slowdown.
The People’s Bank of China slashed lending rates in October, the second time in two months and cut deposit rates for the first time in the year. The government is adopting a “flexible and cautious” economic policy to deal with the current financial crisis.
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