CHINA GROWTH: 9.1% IN Q3

CHINA ECONOMY GROWS AT SLOWEST PACE IN 2 YEARS

Bloomberg News, October 18, 2011

China’s economy grew 9.1 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, the slowest pace since 2009, driving stocks lower on concern that Europe’s debt crisis is dragging on the global recovery.

The gain was less than the median estimate of 9.3 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of 22 economists and followed a 9.5 percent increase in the previous three months. The statistics bureau released the data in Beijing today.

Asia’s benchmark stock index fell as much as 2.4 percent after China’s growth was limited by tighter credit and weaker demand from Europe, where Germany yesterday rejected speculation that any immediate resolution of the region’s crisis is possible. A slowdown in the pace of China’s expansion, which remains five times that of the U.S., may help Premier Wen Jiabao to tame inflation that is above the government’s target.

“The latest developments in the euro zone have unnerved investors and many are fearful we’re going to see a repeat of the slump we saw at the end of 2008,” said Tim Condon, Singapore-based head of Asian research at ING Groep NV (INGA) and a former World Bank economist. A “hard landing” for China would require a bigger “shock” to growth than is likely, he said.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.2 percent as of 2:34 p.m. local time, the biggest loss in almost a month. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 2.4 percent as of 3:29 p.m. in Tokyo. The yuan weakened 0.2 percent to 6.3823 per dollar.

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