The Chinese economy grew 6.6% last year, according to official figures released on Monday, slowing from 6.8% in 2017 and marking the slowest yearly rate since 1990, Reuters reports.
Gross domestic product grew 6.4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, down from 6.5% in the previous three months. The widespread effects of an economic slowdown combined with overseas threats to trade continued to weigh on activity towards the end of the year, despite a push from policymakers to revive domestic demand.
Many analysts expect the slowdown to extend well into 2019, with some suspecting that China’s real growth rate is actually much weaker than official reports.
Also included in the data release was an uptick in industrial output growth in December compared with a year earlier, at 5.7%. Fixed-asset investment and retail sales both grew close to market forecasts but remain at the slowest pace seen in decades.