Credit controls slow mainland's industrial output growth to 17.3pc

The mainland's industrial output grew at the slowest pace this year last month as a wave of tightening measures poured cold water on the sizzling economy.

The 17.3 per cent year-on-year expansion compared with 17.9 per cent growth in October, 18.9 per cent in September and the year's peak of 19.4 per cent in June, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

Economists said the central government's intensified efforts to curb lending in the past two months as well as a crackdown on inefficient and polluting mines and steel mills were starting to pay dividends.

'Some kind of slowdown is good for the economy and is exactly what state leaders want,' said Citi China economist Shen Minggao. 'Credit control has been tight.'

The central bank on Saturday raised the reserve requirement ratio for the 10th time this year to 14.5 per cent. The credit squeeze is expected to directly hit lending to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Still, in the first 11 months of the year, industrial output jumped 18.5 per cent from a year earlier, beating the full-year growth of 16.6 per cent last year.