China’s economic growth slowest since 1990

China's economic growth has slowed in line with forecasts by economists, stoking fears about the impact on the global economy.

China expanded at 6.6% in 2018, official figures out Monday showed.

In the three months to December, the economy grew 6.4% from a year earlier, down from 6.5% in the previous quarter.

China's rate of expansion has raised worries about the potential knock-on effect on the global economy. The trade war with the US has added to the gloomy outlook.

The official figures out Monday showed the weakest quarterly growth rate since the global financial crisis.

China accounts for almost one-third of the global economy, meaning weaker growth will impact jobs and exports in countries around the world.

China's government has been pushing to shift away from export-led growth to depend more on domestic consumption.

Policymakers in China have stepped up efforts in recent months to support the economy.

However, China is having to tread carefully given a national debt-to-GDP ratio of around 325 percent, putting it among the ranks of highly indebted countries.

Today's data release also contained more recent figures from the month of December — retail sales, industrial output, and urban investment.

Two of the three were close to expectations, with retail sales growing 8.2 percent year-on-year and urban investment up 5.9 percent.

Industrial production beat expectations, growing 5.7 percent rather than the typical forecast of 5.3 percent, and also stronger than November's 5.4 percent result.

The better-than-expected industrial production report gave the Australian dollar a modest, and temporary boost.

From 71.5 US cents ahead of the release, the Aussie climbed as high as 71.82 shortly after, before easing back to 71.65 US cents by 1:19 pm (AEDT).

US dollar held near a two-week high on Monday, shrugging off concerns about weakening global growth and data showing China’s economy slowed sharply in 2018.