BEIJING-- China's economic expansion languished to its slowest pace in nearly three decades last year, as a bruising trade fight with the U.S. exacerbated weakness in the world's second-largest economy. The 6.6% growth rate for 2018 reported Monday is the slowest annual pace that China has recorded since 1990. The economic downturn, which has been sharper than Beijing expected, deepened in the final months of 2018, with fourth quarter growth rising 6.4% from a year earlier. Some economists and investors have said China's economy is far more anemic than the government's 6.6% rate of expansion for 2018. "The economy faces downward pressure," said Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statics, at a news conference Monday.

Source: Wall Street Journal January 21, 2019 02:26 UTC