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China output drops

December 12, 2014

The latest figures for China's industrial output are unmatched by any large Western economy. But analysts are disappointed nonetheless, viewing a small year-on-year dip as a sign of fatigue in the Asian country.

https://p.dw.com/p/1E313
Chinese workers
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Qilai shen

China's industrial production measuring output at factories, workshops and mines rose by 7.2 percent year-on-year in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported Friday.

Economists warned that the figure marked the weakest growth pace since August's 6.9 percent, concluding that together with other key indicators factory output was pointing to weaknesses in the world's second-largest economy.

"The data bode ill for GDP growth in the fourth quarter, which is bound to slow further," Credit Agricole CIB economist Dariusz Kowalczyk said in a statement.

Pessimism prevails

In the third quarter, China's gross domestic product expanded by 7.3 percent, down from 7.5 percent in the previous three months and marking the slowest pace since 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.

Analysts warned that China had also been hit of late by tumbling property prices and nagging concerns over corporate and local government debt.

China's Move Towards a Free Market Economy

A surprise rate cut by the country's central bank last month signaled policymakers' growing unease that their country might be at risk of a sharper slowdown, which could eventually result in tangible job losses and debt default.

hg/cjc (AFP, Reuters)