As the prospects of a protracted trade war with the US looms large, Chinese economic growth slackened to 6.5 per cent in the quarter ending September, South China Morning Post has reported.
Incidentally, this growth is the lowest China has clocked since the last quarter of 2008, which was in the backdrop of the global financial crisis.
China’s ongoing trade war with the US has impacted its exporters and manufacturers as the officially release quarterly growth rate came below the 6.6 per cent forecast by Bloomberg poll of economists, and less than the 6.7 per cent figure in the second quarter.
Despite mounting structural challenges, the Chinese economy had been able to expand anywhere between 6.7 per cent and 6.9 per cent every quarter for the last three years.
The growth rate could slide even further as the full impact of US tariffs on Chinese exports is likely to play out over the next two quarters.
Given that US President Donald Trump has relentless in his tariff war on the country and has promised further tariffs, China faces very uncertain growth prospects.
China's official growth target this year is around 6.5 per cent. And the country is still on course to meet it.