China’s GDP grows 4.9% in Q3

China's development grew nearly 5% in the third quarter amid concerns over development. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI

Oct. 18 (UPI) — China’s economy for the third quarter only grew 4.9% compared to the same period last year due to “complicated and severe environment both at home and abroad,” The National Bureau of Statistics of China said Monday.

The figure is its slowest growth pace of the year and represents a significant decrease from the 7.9% the Asian nation recorded for the second quarter.

It is also significantly lower than the record 18.3% it posted in the first quarter.

“Generally speaking, the overall national economy maintained the recovery momentum in the first three quarters with steady progress in economic restructuring and new advancement of high-quality development,” the bureau said in a statement. “However, we must note that the current international environment uncertainties are mounting and the domestic economic recovery is still unstable and uneven.”

The slow growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy, comes as it deals with an energy shortage that has affected manufacturers due to energy rationing and uncertainty about debt-ridden developer Evergrande, CNN reported.

The property conglomerate, which has $300 billion in liabilities and is the nation’s second-largest developer by sales, missed a payment to investors on Oct. 11, but the People’s Bank of China last week attempted to reassure the public by saying the risks it poses are “controllable,” CNBC reported.

“China Evergrande Group’s problems in the real estate industry are an individual phenomenon,” Zou Lan, director for the bank’s financial markets department, told reporters during a press conference on Friday. “Most real estate businesses are operating stably and have good financial indicators, and the real estate industry overall is healthy.”

The bureau said Monday that for September, real estate, which represents about 20% of the country’s GDP, was up 0.17% from a month earlier and that investment in infrastructure in the first three quarters was up 1.5% on year.

Industrial production increased 3.1% on year with its agricultural sector growing 3.4%, the bureau said, adding that its retail sales jumped 4.4% and the value of imports climbed 15.4% on year.

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