China set to report slowest economic growth for 28 years
- Figures to be released on Monday could show 2018 GDP growth slowed to 6.6 per cent
- Beijing’s promise of more support only likely to be enough to stop slide getting worse, analysts say
China is expected to report on Monday that economic growth cooled to its slowest in 28 years in 2018 amid weakening domestic demand and bruising US tariffs, adding pressure on Beijing to roll out more support measures.
Growing signs of weakness in China, which has generated nearly a third of global growth in the past decade, are stoking worries about risks to the world economy and are weighing on profits for firms ranging from Apple to big carmakers.
Policymakers in Beijing have pledged more support for the economy this year to reduce the risk of massive job losses, but have ruled out a “flood” of stimuli like that unleashed in the past, which boosted growth rates but left a mountain of debt.
Analysts polled by Reuters expect the world’s second-largest economy to have grown 6.4 per cent year on year in the final quarter of 2018, slowing from 6.5 per cent in the previous three months and matching levels last seen in early 2009 during the global financial crisis.
That could pull gross domestic product growth to 6.6 per cent for the year, its lowest since 1990 and down from a revised 6.8 per cent in 2017.
With stimulus measures expected to take some time to kick in, most analysts believe conditions in China are likely to get worse before they get better, and see a further slowdown to 6.3 per cent this year. Some have said real growth levels are already much weaker than official data suggest.
