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China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth decelerated to 6.9% in the third quarter of 2015, the National Bureau of Statistics reported on Monday. Although the economic growth rate exceeded economists' forecast of 6.8%, it is below the government's 7% growth rate target and the slowest pace since the global economic crisis.  

The services sector grew 8.4% in the third quarter as China's manufacturing sector and exports weakened. Reports on industrial production and fixed asset investment were below expectation. Industrial production over the last quarter grew at 5.7% year-on-year, while fixed asset investment grew below expectation at 10.3%.

Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Hong Kong told Bloomberg news, "The manufacturing slowdown is the bigger problem for the Chinese economy in the near term."

Chinese stock markets had fallen 29% during Q3 2015. To keep growth from sliding below the government's 2015 target of about 7%, the People's Bank of China has cut interest rates five times since November. The National Bureau of Statistics stated that fiscal spending increased 26.9% from 2014 to 1.8 trillion yuan ($283.8 billion) in September, as the government approved more than 200 projects in rail, highway and energy projects since January, and urged banks to bolster infrastructure lending.
 
The Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday at an event in Beijing to promote entrepreneurism, “Even though it was 6.9%, it is still a growth rate of around 7%.” According to him, employment has improved as the country restructures its economy from an export-led to one driven by consumption.

Concerns over the slowdown in the second-largest economy in the world are some of the reasons the U.S. Federal Reserve is holding off from raising interest rates.

China is also reducing its stake from U.S. government debt. It has cut its holdings of $1.4 trillion by about $200 billion this year as it raises money to finance its flagging economy. However, any concerns around this are attenuated as U.S. domestic mutual funds and investors have been buying record amounts of Treasuries at the Fed auctions this year.

In the latest World Economic Outlook (WEO), “Adjusting to Lower Commodity Prices”, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) downgraded its forecast for global economic growth to 3.1% in 2015 and 3.6% in 2016. The IMF said emerging and developing economies are slowing in 2015 for the fifth consecutive year. The Chinese economy has been responsible for about one-third of global output over the past seven years.