China's economic growth weakens amid supply chain and electricity issues

China's economy grew by 4.9 percent in the third quarter, a drop from the previous quarter's 7.9 percent.

China has the world's second-largest economy, and this is its slowest pace of growth in a year. The country is dealing with a variety of issues, including supply chain delays, power outages that are slowing down factory output, a construction downturn, and the coronavirus pandemic.

In the first quarter of the year, the economy grew a record 18.3 percent, thanks to overseas buyers snapping up Chinese-made goods, and analysts told Reuters they had expected the gross domestic product to rise 5.2 percent in the third quarter. During a Monday briefing, National Bureau of Statistics spokesperson Fu Linghui said the domestic economic recovery is "still unstable and uneven."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Louis Kuijs, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics, told Reuters more "ugly growth numbers" are expected in the coming months, and policymakers will likely "take more steps to shore up growth, including ensuring ample liquidity in the interbank market, accelerating infrastructure development, and relaxing some aspects of overall credit and real estate policies."