China's gross domestic product growth slowed to 6.9 percent in 2015, official data showed Tuesday, the weakest annual rate in a quarter of a century for the world’s second-largest economy, a mounting concern for global investors.
The performance of China, a major driver of the world economy, is a crucial concern for global investors, and its fourth-quarter growth also slowed to 6.8 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said, the softest reading since the global financial crisis.
China's leaders -- who had set a target of "about seven percent" for GDP growth in 2015 -- are looking to transform the country's economic model away from the investment and exports of the past to one more oriented towards domestic consumer demand.