01:25

China announced on Monday its official economic growth of 6.6 percent year-on-year in 2018, above the official target of around 6.5 percent. But the reading was lower than the 6.8-percent growth rate registered in 2017. Some analysts argued that the figure is the lowest official pace in 28 years, since 1990. Gong Jiong from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing said that 6.6 percent is actually not that bad. He said that the economy performed in a reasonable range in 2018, with economic growth being generally stable and improvement achieved in performance. He added that the downward trend is obvious, and such a trend will continue in 2019. He said the result is because of both the external and domestic economic difficulties.