Gross domestic product grew 4-9 per cent year-on-year between July and September, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, compared with 7-9 percent in the three months ending in June.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, growth was just 0.2 percent. The figures add to the pressure building on President Xi Jinping as he enters the final year of his second term and pursues an ambitious “common prosperity” strategy, an effort to tackle “excessively high incomes” and encourage wealth redistribution.
The Chinese leader’s priorities include a crackdown on leverage in the struggling property sector that could mark a shift away from the country’s debt-fuelled economic model.
Policymakers are also grappling with an energy crisis that has led to power rationing across the country, pushed factory gate inflation to its highest level since 1995 and forced the government to increase coal production despite pledges to reduce carbon emissions made last year.
China has also had to deal with coronavirus outbreaks, which have led to the imposition of travel restrictions.
“After entering the third quarter, risks and challenges at home and abroad increased with the pandemic continuing to spread and the recovery of the world economy slowing down,” said Fu Linghui, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics.
Fu added that the “impact of tight energy supply on the economy” was “tempor and the real estate market had “generally stabilised”.