Beijing, Dec 2(ANI): China's purchasing managers' index (PMI), which gauges manufacturing activity, shrank to 49 in November from 50.4 in October for the first time in nearly three years indicating a further economic slowdown.
The data was released on December 1 after the government slashed the reserve ratio for Chinese commercial banks.
A PMI fell under 50, which indicates a contraction of manufacturing activity, last in February 2009.
The sub-index for export orders also tumbled sharply to 45.6 in November from 48.6 in October.
China's Vice-Minister of Finance Zhu Guangyao said uncertainties and unstable factors in the world economy hampered China's effort to maintain steady growth.
"We must make policies more focused, flexible and pre-emptive and manage the pace and strength of macroeconomic controls," he said.
Some analysts said a lull in China's property market was responsible for the economic slowdown.
"It reinforces our view that China's economy will fall sharply in the months ahead as the property sector has reached a tipping point," The China Daily quoted a Nomura Securities' Economist Zhang Zhiwei, as saying.
Analysts expect the Chinese Government to loosen monetary policies and shift the focus from taming inflation to stabilizing growth after the release of PMI figures.
"Judging from the PMI, China is experiencing the most difficult time since the global financial crisis in 2008 and this demands the Chinese government further loosen its policies," ANZ Banking Group's economic research department director Liu Ligang said.
But China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing's Deputy Director Cai Jin predicted that the pace of the economic slowdown would remain steady.(ANI)
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