Shenzhen growth rate falls sharply in third quarter as US trade war weighs on China’s hi-tech hub

The growth rate for the home city of Huawei and Tencent slowed to 6.6 per cent in the first nine months of 2019 from 7.4 per cent in the first half of the year

Exports dropped 9.3 per cent, while the private sector investment rate plummeted to only 0.3 per cent, underlining the impact of the US trade and tech wars

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Shenzhen’s slowdown was driven, in a large part, due to its private investment growth plummeting in the third quarter, falling to a rate of only 0.3 per cent year from 12.3 per cent in the first half of the year. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 8:30am, 7 Nov 2019Updated: 4:44pm, 7 Nov 2019

The growth rate in Shenzhen, China’s hi-tech hub, slid to its lowest level in 40 years during the first nine months of the year, underlining the impact of the trade and tech wars with the United States.

The city’s growth rate is seen as a key indicator for the overall economy, given it is home to some of the nation’s biggest hi-tech champions, such as Huawei and Tencent.

Shenzhen’s economy grew 6.6 per cent between January and September compared to a year earlier, the lowest growth rate since the city became a special economic zone in 1979, according to official data.

This indicated a sharp deceleration in the third quarter with the growth rate for the January to September period falling from the 7.4 per cent rate in the first half of the year. Shenzhen did not publish a growth rate for the third quarter alone.

The growth slowdown was led by a plunge in private investment growth, which fell to only 0.3 per cent in the January to September period compared to a year earlier from the 12.3 per cent rate posted in the first half of the year.