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China posts a 28-year low economic growth rate

Posted January. 22, 2019 07:44,   

Updated January. 22, 2019 07:44

한국어

China posted a 6.6-percent economic growth rate last year (in terms of gross domestic product), the lowest in 28 years since 1990. Exports suffered from the trade war with the U.S., and the domestic demand remained in doldrums as well.

The national statistics office of China announced Monday that the nation's GDP in 2018 hit 90.03 trillion yuan, up 6.6 percent from the previous year. The figure is higher than the target proposed by the Chinese government early last year, but this marks the lowest level of growth at 3.9 percent since 1990 when the country’s economy suffered a hard blow from the Tiananmen Square protests.

The annual growth rates of the Chinese economy have been on the decrease since it peaked out at 10.6 percent in 2010. The growth in the fourth quarter of last year stood at 6.4 percent, marking the lowest rate in eight years since the first quarter of 2009 during the global financial crisis.

It appears that China’s economy will continue to face a downward pressure as most of the major economic indicators are falling, such as retail sales, industrial production, and fixed asset investments. The International Monetary Fund forecasted that China will grow merely by 6.2 percent this year. Some institutes are warning that the growth could fall to the 5-percent range if the ongoing trade war is further prolonged.

The slowdown of China’s economy can be expected to apply a heavy pressure on South Korea whose China exports accounted for 26.8 percent of the total last year.


yhkang@donga.com