The once-unstoppable behemoth driving the world's economic growth appeared to have hit the brakes in the year just past.
China on Monday announced that its official economic growth came in at 6.6% in 2018 — the slowest pace since 1990.
That announcement was highly anticipated by many around the world amid Beijing’s ongoing trade dispute with the U.S., its largest trading partner.
Economists had predicted full-year gross domestic product to come in at that pace, which was down from a revised 6.8% in 2017.
Fourth quarter GDP growth was 6.4%, matching expectations. That was a decline from the 6.5% year-over-year growth in the third quarter of 2018.
There were a few bright spots in Monday’s batch of official Chinese economic data.
Industrial output grew 5.7% in December from a year earlier — beating expectations of 5.3% growth — outpacing November’s 5.4% growth.
Retail sales data rose 8.2% in December on-year, in line with a forecast and up from November’s 8.1% gain.
Even before increased trade tensions with the U.S., China was already trying to manage a slowdown in its economy.
Nevertheless, economic data from China are being closely watched for signs of damage inflicted by the trade war with Washington.
