TAX CUTS:China also released a draft plan to reduce personal income tax to allow deductions for expenses on healthcare, education and supporting elderly relatives
Construction and manufacturing were the main drags for China’s slower-than-expected third-quarter economic growth, while technology offered some support, supplementary data released yesterday showed.
Growth in the construction sector slowed to 2.5 percent from a year earlier compared with 4 percent in the previous quarter, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics said.
The financial sector also grew at a slower pace of 4 percent, while information technology continued to expand at a fast clip of 32.8 percent, compared with 31.7 percent in the second quarter.
The main GDP report released on Friday showed the overall economy in the third quarter expanded 6.5 percent from a year earlier, compared with the previous quarter’s 6.7 percent.
That was the slowest pace since the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2009.
China’s economy has faced increasing headwinds this year, with simmering trade tensions and a slumping stock market hurting confidence in the outlook. Those problems have prompted officials to step up stimulus and pledge further support, but the effects of those measures are yet to be seen and more might be needed.
The weak construction reading tallies with data in Friday’s GDP report that showed infrastructure investment continuing to contract. Manufacturing growth slowed from 6.6 percent in the second quarter to 6 percent, the weakest level since the data were first made available in March last year.
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