China Grows 6.1 Percent in 2019, Slowest Pace in Almost Three Decades

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – China’s economic growth, which slowed for most of last year, remained firm in the final quarter amid the easing of trade tensions with the United States, which brought the Asian country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to an expansion of 6.1 percent for the 2019 calendar year, according to data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics.

Still, it was the slowest growth rate in nearly three decades, down from the 6.6 percent increase recorded in 2018.

In the fourth quarter alone, China’s GDP grew 6.0 percent year-on-year, repeating the third quarter’s expansion, but below the projection of analysts consulted by the Wall Street Journal for a 6.1 percent advance.

Chinese industrial production advanced 6.9 percent in the December comparison, accelerating from a 6.2 percent increase in November. December’s advance surpassed the median of the projections of 15 analysts consulted by the Wall Street Journal, up 5.9 percent.

Retail sales, on the other hand, jumped 8.0 percent last month compared to December 2018, repeating November’s 8.0 percent increase and beating projections for a growth of 7.8 percent.

Investments in fixed assets in China’s urban areas advanced 5.4 percent in the 2019 calendar year.  The growth in this indicator of construction activity, surpassed the 5.2 percent annual increase registered in the period from January to November and economists’ projections.

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