China recorded one of its slowest rates of economic growth in decades last year, data showed Friday, as leaders nervously eye a potential trade standoff with incoming US president Donald Trump.

Beijing has in recent months announced its most aggressive support measures in years in a bid to reignite an economy that has suffered on multiple fronts, including a prolonged property market debt crisis and sluggish consumer spending.

But the economy grew five percent last year, official data from Beijing's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Friday, slightly above the 4.9 percent forecast in an AFP survey of analysts.

Still, the figure was lower than the 5.2 percent recorded in 2023.

The growth took place in the face of a "complicated and severe environment with increasing external pressures and internal difficulties", the NBS said.

The economy was still facing "difficulties and challenges", officials admitted.

Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer sentiment, rose 3.5 percent -- a major slump from the 7.2 percent growth seen in 2023 -- though industrial output increased 5.8 percent, from 4.6 percent the previous year.

However, the 5.4 percent jump in economic growth seen in the final four months........

© International Business Times