China’s growth slows slightly to 9.6%
The pace of China’s economic expansion slowed modestly in the third quarter but still grew a robust 9.6% from a year earlier, official figures released Thursday showed.
The rate was in line with economists’ expectations as the Chinese government is taking steps to keep its fast-growing economy from overheating.
“The national economy kept moving toward the expected direction of macroeconomic control,” the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.
The drop from the second quarter’s year-over-year growth of 10.3% was due partly to new government regulations to cool the red-hot real estate sector, which some analysts fear could be headed for a meltdown. Inflation is also a concern. Separate data released Thursday showed China’s consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, rose to 3.6% in September from 3.5% in August. That’s the highest level in nearly two years.
In a surprise move Tuesday, China’s central bank raised a benchmark interest rate in an effort to curb inflation and property prices by encouraging consumers to put more money in the bank instead of investing in real estate for better returns. That action sparked a sell-off in stocks and commodities in markets around the world on fears that a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy could delay the global recovery.
