China Set To Grow Slower In 2015

According to press report coming out from China, the country could be heading for slower growth in the New Year.

The report says banks and economic experts are predicting slower but higher quality growth for China’s economy in 2015.

The most recent report by Standard Chartered forecast that China’s GDP will decelerate to 7.1 percent in 2015 from an expected 7.3 percent in 2014.

A more moderate growth rate with stable growth engines is being hailed as the “new normal” for China’s economy.

Last year, third quarter growth showed a downward movement to 7.3 percent, the lowest since the global financial crisis of 2008/2009.

The drag on the growth rate is attributed to a slow down in housing, softening domestic demand and unsteady exports.

Standard Chartered premised its forecast on the current trend in 2014, with growth in electricity, cement and steel-product production – all considered reliable indicators of industrial production and fixed asset investment – falling by an average 8 percentage points.

The banks forecast was in line with the outlook provided by China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, which predicted the country’s GDP growth would “slow modestly” in 2015 to 7.1 percent, says the report.

In its working paper released in December, the central bank estimated the country’s GDP growth for 2014 at 7.4 percent.