World
China’s Economy Posted Slower Growth
The signs are not good for China. The country posted its slowest growth in three years, with the economy growing 8.1 percent from January to March 2012.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, this has been the slowest growth of China since the second quarter of 2009. In that year, the gross domestic product grew 8.9 percent.
The slow growth affected the Australian dollar, which fell down $0.05. It is currently trading to US$1.04. And because China is one of Australia’s biggest trading partners, China’s numbers also affected local stocks.
This quarter marks China’s fifth consecutive slowdown. Sheng Laiyun said the slow growth has put tremendous pressure on its exports.
Other numbers of China are also not encouraging. Data for its manufacturing industry showed 11.6-percent growth in the first quarter of 2012. The number is smaller compared to 15.7 percent a year ago. The dip was fueled by the slow in demand from Europe, which also experiences economic crisis.
Last year’s numbers also showed that China’s economy slowed down. It posted a growth of 9.2 percent in 2011 while 2010’s growth was at 10.4 percent.
Industry observers, though, expect that China will recover in the second semester of 2012. China has implemented small changes that provide credit access to small companies. This should provide more jobs to its billions of citizens.
HIS Global Insight, however, said that things don’t look good. China is expected to lower its annual economic growth target to 7.5 percent from its original 8 percent. Economist Xianfang Ren said the exports industry of the country will continue to slow down.
