China GDP growth hits 28-yr low

China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 6.6 per cent in 2018, its slowest rate since 1990, official figures showed on Monday, stoking fears about the impact of sluggish growth in the world's second largest economy on the world as Beijing grappled with the effects of the trade war with the US.

In the three months to December, the economy grew 6.4 per cent from a year earlier, down from 6.5 per cent in the previous quarter, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said. The data was in line with forecasts but underlines recent concern about weakening growth in the world's second largest economy.

The NBS announced on Monday that Chinese economy grew at 6.6 per cent in 2018. Last year's growth rate was down from 6.8 per cent in 2017 and was the lowest growth rate of 3.9 per cent, recorded in 1990. The 6.6 per cent is above the official target of around 6.5 per cent, according to the data published the NBS.

Growth in the fourth quarter came in at 6.4 per cent, down from 6.5 per cent seen in the third quarter, it said. China's rate of expansion has raised worries about the potential knock-on effect on the global economy. The trade war with the US has added to the gloomy outlook. The US and China have been locked in an escalating trade spat since early 2018, raising import tariffs on each other's goods.

Last year, US President Donald Trump imposed tariff hikes of up to 25 per cent on $250 billion of Chinese goods. The move prompted China to increase tariffs on $110 billion of US goods.