China’s economy grew 6% in the latest quarter, the slowest since 1992, as a trade war bites the global economy.

The number, from China’s National Bureau of statistics, missed analysts ‘ expectations of 6.1% of Bloomberg’s median as a slowdown in industry outweighed gains in services. Julian Evans – Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, says this is the lowest growth rate in the country since quarterly data were published in 1992.

Much of this slowdown may be due to slowing demand from abroad, for both Chinese goods coming out and foreign goods coming into China-with the trade war playing a big role in this due to declining U.S. imports and exports.

Fears now that the global economy is flirting with recession have grown because of the numbers coming out of China, given the importance China plays in the global economic system – other countries that rely on China, such as Germany, will be hampered by this, as we have alrea dy seen manufacturing slip last year.

Last week, IMF chief economist Geeta Gopinath warned that trade wars could slow global growth to its lowest pace since the 2008/9 financial crisis.

“The weakness in growth is due to a sharp deterioration in manufacturing activity and global trade, with higher tariffs and prolonged trade policy uncertainty hurting investment and demand for capital goods,” Gopinath said, adding that ” to rejuvenate growth, policymakers must remove trade barriers that are created by strong agreements, combine geopolitical tensions and reduce domestic policy uncertainty.”

Elsewhere, it said, China saw industrial production rise from 4.4% in August to 5.8% in September, while retail sales rose from 7.5% to 7.8%.

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