China GDP grew 6.1 percent in 2019, slowest in three decades

China's economy weakened to its slowest pace in three decades in 2019 as weaker domestic demand and trade tensions with the United States took their toll, official data showed Friday.

The world's second-largest economy grew by 6.1 percent last year, its worst performance since 1990, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The figure matches an AFP analyst forecast and is within Beijing's official target of 6.0-6.5 percent. But last year's growth was down from 6.6 percent in 2018.

While China's economy had been gradually losing steam over the first three quarters, growth stabilised at 6 percent in the last three months of 2019 -- the same pace as in the third quarter, according to the NBS. Ning Jizhe, commissioner of China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said China's economy generally sustained a stable momentum of growth in 2019.

"However, we should also be aware that the global economic and trade growth is slowing down," he said at a news conference. He added that there were more sources of instability and risk, with the economy facing "mounting downward pressure".