The Chinese economy grew at the slowest pace in two-and-a-half decades during 2015 amid a manufacturing slump and equity market slowdown, official data to be released on Tuesday may reveal.
Gross domestic product likely grew 6.9 percent in 2015, just short of the government's 7 percent target. That would be slower than the 7.3 percent expansion in the previous year and, also the weakest increase in the economic output since 1990.
Fourth quarter GDP is also expected to have grown 6.9 percent year-on-year, marking the same pace of expansion as in the previous three months.
The National Bureau of Statistics is set to release the data late Monday, at 9 pm ET.
"In view of the uncertainty about the China call any downside miss poses significant risk to financial markets," ING Bank analysts said.
The statistical office will also release industrial production, fixed asset investment and retail sales data for December.
China's stock markets have been largely declining since the start of the year on the back of the depreciation pressure on the renminbi or yuan.
Authorities have adopted several measures to stabilize the currency as they battle market speculation that the yuan is a one-way depreciation bet.
They also want to make the yuan exchange rate more market-determined ahead of the currency's inclusion into the IMF's reserve-currency or SDR basket later this year. The International Monetary Fund expects only 6.3 percent growth for China in 2016 compared to an estimated 6.8 percent last year.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.