Investment in fixed assets at 13-year low

Economists expect 2015 growth target as low as 7%： Bloomberg poll

China's economic slowdown continued in October as fixed-asset investment and industrial output grew slightly slower than forecast, although the economy is expected to see continued steady growth, said analysts.

Fixed-asset investment, a major indicator of economic activity, grew by 15.9 percent in the first 10 months year-on-year, 0.2 percentage points slower compared with the January-September period. This is the slowest growth in the past 13 years, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Thursday.

Industrial output rose 7.7 percent in October from a year earlier, a figure also below market expectations.

Retail sales, another driver of the country's economy, rose 11.5 percent in October, down from 11.6 percent in September.

A recent Reuters poll of economists would forecast industrial output rise by 8 percent and retail sales would by 11.6 percent, both unchanged from their pace in September.

"Economic growth is lower than I expected," Xu Hongcai, director of the Department of Information under the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told the Global Times.

Xu noted that poor domestic demand and economic structural adjustments, such as eliminating overcapacity in some industries, are major drags on economic growth.

Investment in the property sector, still a pillar industry, also slowed slightly, gaining 12.4 percent in the first 10 months year-on-year, down from 12.5 percent in the January-September period.

On the back of recent supportive policies, home sales have improved, which will help speed up economic growth in the last two months of this year, Xu said, noting he is optimistic that growth will remain steady overall.

The total value of home sales fell only 7.9 percent in the January-October period, compared with 8.9 percent in the first nine months, the NBS data said.

China could set an economic growth target of about 7 percent for 2015, lower than the government's growth target of about 7.5 percent for this year, according to a poll by Bloomberg in October. Bloomberg collected opinions from 22 economists.

Despite the slowdown, Zhuang Jian, a senior economist with the Asian Development Bank, still feels optimism for China's economic growth, noting that the steady growth pattern has not changed.

Zhuang said the central government is unlikely to use additional "radical" stimulus measures such as cutting interest rates, as they are unnecessary when economic growth is relatively stable. The employment rate, an important factor in social stability, is at a reasonable level, he noted. The unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2013 was 4.1 percent, the latest figures available.

China created more than 10 million new urban jobs in the first nine months, hitting its annual target ahead of schedule, the NBS said in October.

To further boost economic development, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's economic planner, has approved a slew of infrastructure projects with a total value of around 700 billion yuan ($114 billion) in the last month. This includes 16 new railways and five airports.

But, said Zhuang, growth will continue to slow until year's end, as it will take time for the recent stimulus moves to take effect.

In addition to the NDRC's recent approvals of more projects, an uptick in retail sales at the end of the year will also likely drive economic growth, according to Xu.

On November 11, dubbed "Singles' Day" in China, 57.1 billion yuan worth of goods were sold online by the Alibaba Group, around 60 percent higher compared with the same day in 2013.