China fourth quarter GDP growth slows to 6.4 percent, as expected

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s economy grew 6.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 from a year earlier, official data showed on Monday, in line with expectations and slower than the previous quarter’s 6.5 percent growth.

The September-December growth rate was the weakest expansion since the financial crisis, data published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed, adding to fears of a sharper slowdown in global growth.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected gross domestic product to expand 6.4 percent in the October-December quarter.

For all of 2018, the world’s second-largest economy grew 6.6 percent — its slowest expansion in 28 years and cooling from a revised 6.8 percent in 2017, official data showed on Monday. Analysts had expected 6.6 percent.

Chinese policymakers are expected to ramp up support for the economy this year to avert a sharper slowdown but analysts say activity may not stabilize until summer, adding pressure on Beijing to strike a deal with Washington to end their trade war.

On a quarterly basis, gross domestic product (GDP) rose 1.5 percent in Oct-Dec, compared with 1.6 percent in the previous three months, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Analysts had expected 1.5 percent.