China‘s economy grew 10.4 per cent in the third quarter, slowing markedly from the first half of the year, showing the government’s controls on investments and land use are taking effect.
The National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday that gross domestic product expanded 10.
7 per cent to Rmb14,100bn ($1,780bn) in the first three quarters of the year. In the second quarter, annual growth reached 11.3 per cent.
The slower pace of economic expansion was largely a result of declining growth of fixed asset investment, which rose 23.6 per cent year-on-year in September, compared with 29.8 per cent in the first half and 27.
3 per cent in the first three quarters.
Growth of industrial output also slowed to 16.2 per cent in the third quarter, 1.
9 percentage points lower than the second quarter.
“The macro adjustment policies are timely and effective,” said Li Xiaochao, spokesman for the NBS. “The excessive growth of national economy has started to be curbed in the third quarter.
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“The adjustment policies have not only effectively prevented the economy from overheating by slowing the excessive growth, but have averted big fluctuations, without causing a slump in the economy.”
However, with investment slowing down, growth is becoming even more reliant on exports.
China‘s exports soared 26.
5 per cent to $691.2bn in the first nine months from a year earlier, despite the government’s new initiative to cut tax rebates for exporters in many sectors.
Meanwhile, the country’s imports rose a slower 21.
7 per cent for the first three quarters, to $581.3bn, sending China’s trade surplus significantly higher.
Mr Li said the economy still had serious structural problems, while natural disasters and negative impacts on the environment brought by fast growth also needed close attention.
Retail sales remained lukewarm as compared with investment, growing 13.5 per cent in the first nine months to Rmb5,500bn.
Consumer prices rose a mild 1.
3 per cent in the first nine months but picked up to 1.5 per cent in September.
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