China’s GDP growth slows to 6.5% in third quarter

The Chinese economy grew slightly slower than expected between July and September, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, posting gross domestic product growth of 6.5%.

Analysts polled by Reuters forecast the figure to come in at 6.6%, slowing from 6.7% in the second quarter. The government’s annual GDP growth target for 2018 is 6.5%.

This is the weakest year-on-year quarterly growth pace since the start of 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis. Economists have anticipated that trade war threats and a widespread softening of economic activity borne out in recent data will begin to drag down China’s headline growth figure.

In sequential terms, the economy grew 1.6% during the quarter, down from 1.8% in the April-June period.