China’s GDP growth falls to 6.2% in Q2

Beijing, July 15 

China’s growth has slumped to 6.2% in the second quarter of this year, its lowest level in nearly three decades, the government said today, as the world’s second largest economy feels the pinch of a bruising trade war with the US and weak global demand.

The GDP growth slid from 6.4% in the first quarter of 2019, according to government data released today.

While the slowdown to 6.2% is a 27-year low, it raised concerns as the once resilient Chinese economy did not dip below 6.4 per cent even during the 2009 world economic crisis during which the largely export dependent country came under heavy pressure due to the steady fall in its foreign trade.

China’s GDP expanded 6.3% year-on-year in the first half of 2019 to about 45.09 trillion yuan (about $6.56 trillion), according to data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The growth, however, was in line with the government’s annual target range of 6.0-6.5% for the whole year, down from the 6.6% growth China put up in 2018.

A breakdown of the data showed output of the services sector, which accounted for 54.9% of the total GDP, rose 7% in the first half of the year, outpacing a 3% increase in the primary industry and a 5.8% rise in the secondary industry. — PTI