China’s economic growth is expected to fall below 7 percent for the first time since the global financial crisis in the third quarter, putting pressure on policymakers to roll out more support measures as fears of a sharper slowdown spook investors. Chinese leaders have been trying to reassure global markets that Beijing is able to manage the world’s second-largest economy after a shock devaluation of the yuan CNY=CFXS and a summer stock market plunge fanned fears of a hard landing. But even the government concedes the economy is entering a slower growth phase after decades of breakneck expansion. Growth in third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) likely slowed to 6.8 percent from the same period last year, down from 7 percent in the second quarter, according to a Reuters poll of 50 economists. That would […]