China’s industrial growth in September hit a six-year low at 11.4 per cent from a year ago, with economists anticipating further declines, the South China Morning Post reported. The figure, which was below the 12.8 per cent recorded in August, was a result of a manufacturing ban for factories near Beijing in the runup to the Olympic Games, as well as slackening global demand due to the US financial crisis.

While industrial output may recover somewhat for the rest of the year, now that the Olympics have passed, the outlook for next year is bleak. “We will see a sharp slowdown next year because exports will be badly affected by a recessionary US and economic slowdown in Europe and Japan,” Merrill Lynch economist Lu Ting was quoted as saying.