China's pandemic-defying GDP growth slowed late last year

Gross domestic product grew 4 per cent in the final quarter of 2021 from a year earlier. - Bloomberg

BEIJING (AFP): China's pandemic-defying economic growth slowed in the final months of 2021, official data showed Monday (Jan 17) in a worrying signal for the global economy as Beijing's central bank cut a key interest rate.

The world's second-biggest economy, a key driver of global growth, expanded 8.1 per cent in 2021 on its strong virus recovery, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed, beating forecasts of 8.0 per cent in an AFP poll.