China Says Fourth-Quarter Industrial Growth Rate May Decline

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- China’s industrial growth rate may decline in the fourth quarter and next year, a government official said today, citing factors including Europe’s debt crisis, elevated unemployment in developed nations, high energy costs and rising labor costs.

Even so, industrial growth for the year will still meet the government’s target of 11 percent, Xiao Chunquan, director general of the Bureau of Operation Monitoring and Coordination of China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a briefing in Beijing

Industrial output climbed 14.2 percent in the first nine months of the year, the government said last week.

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