China's economy will see its slowest growth this year since the 1990s as it falls to a projected 7.6 per cent, its cabinet said in a report carried by the official Xinhua news agency Thursday. According to dpa, the growth would be weaker than 2012's 7.7 per cent and the slowest growth since 1999 as the State Council warned the world's second-largest economy faces challenges ahead that could further dampen its expansion. "We cannot deny a downward pressure on economic growth," Xu Shaoshi, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, was quoted by Xinhua as saying. The global economic recovery is shaky and international demand for China's products are weak while at home, labor and environmental costs have gone up and the government has made poor industrial investments, he said. A 7.6-per-cent growth rate for this year would still prove better than a government target of 7.5 per cent. However, previous targets were conservatively set and usually well exceeded.
