China’s growth rate hits 25 year low

​Beijing: China recorded a pronounced deceleration in growth last year, affirming that a multiyear slowdown is biting the world’s second-largest economy harder and shows little sign of abating.

The growth rate, released by the government on Tuesday, moderated to 6.8% for the fourth quarter and 6.9% for 2015. The annual pace was the weakest in a quarter century, and the quarterly level undershot market expectations, posting its lowest reading since the financial crisis and signaling weakening economic momentum.

Tuesday’s figures put a grade on a tumultuous year that saw the slowdown’s impact spill over to global markets and batter the government’s reputation for competent economic management. Chinese leaders held an economic policy meeting Monday with senior officials.

While state media accounts projected a tone of determined optimism, President Xi Jinping also urged the officials “to stabilize short-term growth.” Premier Li Keqiang talked of “increasing downward pressure” on the economy, complicated by slack global demand.

“The real economy basically hasn’t picked up very well,” said Nomura Group economist Yang Zhao. “We’re going to have a choppier sea ahead of us.” With growing debt and too much housing and factory capacity, economists—and even Chinese officials—project a tougher year ahead.

The stock markets have stumbled into the new year, erasing gains from an unsteady recovery after a summertime crash. And, economists said, the tools the government has traditionally used to revive growth—infrastructure spending, easy credit and ramped-up exports—appear increasingly ineffective.