China’s economic growth has slowed to 7.7% in the first quarter of 2013, new data has revealed.
The figures released on Monday showed that China’s economic growth had fallen below expectations, fuelling concerns that a recent recovery is faltering due to a subdued overseas demand.
The latest numbers for the period January-March from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) compares with a median 8.0% forecast in a poll of economists and marks a slowdown from 7.9% seen in the previous quarter.
Observers have expressed hopes that China’s economy, the world’s second biggest, will be a driver of a global recovery and the pick-up at the end of last year – which snapped seven straight quarters of slowing – had reinforced those hopes.
But analysts said Monday’s data and a slew of other downbeat figures recently point to a weak outlook and questioned whether policymakers would be able to address it.
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