China’s GDP slows to disappointing 4.9 percent in third quarter

China’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a disappointing 4.9 percent in the third quarter, after industrial activity in the country increased by a smaller-than-expected margin last month.

The National Bureau of Statistics of China announced on Monday that the country’s GDP increased by only 4.9 percent compared to a year earlier, which, according to CNBC, missed analyst expectations of 5.2 percent growth.

The third-quarter growth was also significantly lower than the GDP expansion observed in the previous two quarters of this year. In the second quarter, China’s GDP grew by 7.9 percent year on year, and in the first quarter it increased by 18.3 percent year on year.

The total value added of industrial enterprises, referred to as industrial production, increased by 3.1 percent in September. That number was below Reuters’s expectation of a 4.5 percent expansion.

Fu Linghui, a spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, said risks and challenges both at home and overseas have increased since July.

“Since entering the third quarter, domestic and overseas risks and challenges have increased,” he said during a press conference on Monday, according to CNBC.

He said the power shortage reported in the country had a “certain impact” on standard operations, but noted that the economic impact the situation had on China “is controllable,” according to CNBC.

China recently observed a rise in the price of coal and a shortage of electricity, causing a number of factories to halt production late last month, according to CNBC. Additionally, some local authorities stopped the flow of power.

Reports also surfaced earlier this month that said China directed its leading energy companies to secure winter supplies at all costs amid the swelling crisis.