The growth of the Chinese economy has slowed down unexpectedly and has fallen to its lowest level in nearly three decades. In the third quarter, the world's second-largest economy grew by only 6.0 percent compared with the same period of the previous year. This was reported by the statistics office in Beijing.
Experts cited the trade war between China and the US as causes, the uncertainty of investors and the Chinese efforts to tackle the growing debt.
Growth for the three quarters combined, at 6.2 percent, is at the lower end of the government's guidance for the full year, from "6.0 percent to 6.5 percent." In the first quarter, 6.4 and 6.2 percent had been achieved.
Experts had actually expected 6.1 percent for the third quarter. However, not only in the US and worldwide, demand for "made in China" goods has fallen more sharply than expected - domestic demand is also weakening. In 2018 China's economy had risen by 6.6 percent.
Due to trade conflict: world economy is growing slower
The slower growth in the US and China caused by the trade dispute between the two largest economies also slows the global economy and worsens the prospects for Germany. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global growth forecast this week for the fourth year in a row to 3 percent this week, down from 3.2 percent in July. On the other hand, the federal government is sticking to its prediction of 0.5 percent growth this year, but lowered the forecast for 2020 by 0.5 points to 1.0 percent on Thursday.
China is Germany's largest trading partner. German companies are also suffering from the weaker growth of the Chinese economy.
Despite the "ceasefire" and the vague agreement on a "phase one" in the trade talks between the US and China, the danger is not over. The two sides want to sign an agreement in Santiago de Chile until the meeting between US President Donald Trump and China's party leader Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Summit (Apec) in mid-November. But there are still many ambiguities - especially the amount of China's agricultural imports from the USA. In addition, China demands not only a suspension of announced new US punitive tariffs, but the abolition of existing special charges.
