Li Keqiang: China’s economy grew by seven per cent in 2015 with GDP totalling more than $10trn
China’s economy grew by seven per cent in 2015, said the country’s Premier Li Keqiang today, broadly in line with analysts’ warnings that the world’s second-largest economy is hitting its slowest growth rate in 25 years.
Keqiang announced that China’s gross domestic product (GDP) totalled more than $10trn in 2015 when speaking at the opening of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing, ahead of China’s full-year 2015 GDP figures, slated for release on 19 January.
More than 60 per cent of the country’s growth came from consumption, and employment expanded beyond expectations, Keqiang said, with a workforce now 900m strong.
Keqiang’s announcement suggests a GDP growth in line with forecasts, as analysts have been predicting China’s 2015 growth to land on 6.9 per cent, down from 7.3 per cent.
This would be the slowest growth in a quarter of a century.
The figures will do little to assuage worries over a slowdown in China, as investors have been eyeing the past weeks’ market turmoil with concern. Yesterday, some $5.7trn were wiped off global stocks on falling oil prices and sharply dropping shares in China.