China said this morning that its economy grew at a slower pace in the third quarter as government efforts to tame inflation and turbulence in Europe and the US curbed activity.
Gross domestic product in the world's second-largest economy grew 9.1% year-on-year in the quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, down from 9.5% in the second quarter and just below analyst forecasts who had expected a figure of 9.2%.
Year-on-year growth in China has slowed for three months in a row as Beijing - anxious about soaring costs - has restricted lending and hiked interest rates, while US and European demand for Chinese-made products has weakened.
Other economic indicators also suggested China - the growth engine for the world since the 2008 financial crisis - was losing steam just as the global economy teeters on the edge of another recession.
Industrial output growth from China's millions of factories and workshops slowed slightly to 14.2% in the first nine months of the year as the downturn in major export markets hurt the country's vast manufacturing sector.
Fixed asset investment, a key measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 24.9% in the first nine months compared with the same time a year ago, down a notch from the first eight months of the year.
Retail sales rose 17.7% year-on-year in September and by 17% in the first nine months of 2011.
China has been the driving force for the global economy and the steady slowdown is likely to fuel concerns about its ability to help debt-laden euro zone countries and the US.
But Beijing faces a policy dilemma of slowing growth and high inflation which has the historic potential to trigger social unrest in the country of more than 1.3 billion people.
Despite persistent efforts to rein in soaring household costs, inflation has hovered above 6% for several months. The politically sensitive inflation rate dipped slightly to 6.1% in September but remained well above the official annual target of 4%.
Housing prices resilient in Chinese cities
Prices of new homes in Chinese cities remained resilient in September despite Beijing's efforts to cool the property market, official data showed today.
The cost of new homes in 24 out of 70 Chinese cities tracked by the government rose in September from August, compared with 23 cities in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement. However, the month-on-month increase in prices in the 24 cities was no more than 0.3%, it said.
New home prices in another 29 cities were stable in September from August, while only 17 cities recorded price falls.
Soaring property prices are a major source of official and consumer concern in China, with housing costs rising out of the reach of many people and threatening to spark social unrest in the country of more than 1.3 billion.
China has introduced a range of measures aimed at reducing prices, such as bans on buying second homes in some cities, hiking minimum down payments and introducing property taxes.
But officials are treading carefully as the property sector is a major driver of economic growth and land sales to developers are an important source of revenue for cash-strapped local governments.
The bureau said nearly all cities, 69, saw new home prices rise on a year-on-year basis in September. In Shanghai, the nation's commercial hub, new home prices rose 3.1% on the year last month, picking up from 2.8% in August.
