China sees slowest growth in two decades

The figures released on Tuesday were the lowest since China's economic growth fell to 3.8 percent in 1990 as a result of economic sanctions after the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The official full-year target for China's economic growth is 7.5 percent.

Growth in the fourth quarter of last year was 7.3 percent, unchanged from the previous quarter, which was the slowest quarterly expansion in five years. China's economy grew 7.7 percent in 2013.

China's President Xi Jinping said last year that the economy has entered a "new normal." However, a surprise interest rate cut by policymakers in November indicated they were worried about a politically dangerous spike in job losses.

'Reasonable' growth'

At a news conference on Tuesday, Ma Jiantang, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that last year's growth "was within a reasonable range," while growth in 2015 is expected to be "stable."

"However, we should also be aware that the domestic and international situations are still complicated and the economic development is facing difficulties and challenge," he added.

China's slowdown is, in part, due to Beijing's efforts to transform the economy by slowly reducing its reliance on heavy industry and trade in favor of domestic consumption.

The changes, however, have been hindered by various problems, including a slumping property market and uneven exports.

Global downgrade

Tuesday's figures came as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also announced that it had downgraded the global forecast for economic growth for the next two years.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the IMF said poor prospects for China, Russia, the eurozone and Japan would peg back world growth to 3.5 percent this year, 0.3 percentage points lower than its previous outlook in October.

ksb/rc (AP, Reuters)