Growth slows but service sector shines

BEIJING - China's economy posted a 6.9 percent growth year on year in the third quarter of 2015, lower than 7 percent in the first half of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Monday.

In the first three quarters of the year, GDP hit 48.78 trillion yuan ($7.68 trillion), up 6.9 percent year on year. The service sector contributed more than half of GDP, according to the NBS.

Six-year low

This is the first time the quarterly growth rate has dropped under 7 percent since the second quarter of 2009.

NBS spokesperson Sheng Laiyun said that global factors amid the world economic recovery had impacted on China.

"Expectation of a US interest rate hike prompted volatility in commodity prices, stocks and foreign currency markets. Many countries devaluated their currencies, putting more pressure on Chinese exports, one of the three pillars of China's economic growth," said Sheng at a press conference.

China's exports growth dropped 7.9 percent year on year in the first three quarters to 17.87 trillion yuan, according to the NBS.

During the first nine months, industrial output grew 6.2 percent year on year and fixed-asset investment climbed 10.3 percent. Property investment grew 2.6 percent year on year, while retail sales of consumer goods rose 10.5 percent.

Year-on-year growth of China's value-added industrial output in the first three quarters stood at 6.2 percent, slightly down from 6.3 percent in the first eight months. Fixed-asset investment growth was 0.6 percentage point slower than the expansion for the first eight months.

Bright spots

Despite disappointing growth in industrial output and fixed-asset investment, there have been positive signs in the slowed Chinese economy.

Retail sales of consumer goods grew 10.9 percent year on year in September, slightly higher than 10.8 percent for August, NBS data showed on Monday. The figure marked the highest rate of growth since the beginning of this year.

HSBC analyst Qu Hongbin predicted that consumption will continue to grow stably and that "backed by consumption growth and home sales recovery, a modest economic rebound may be realized in the coming months."