China Third-Quarter GDP Rises 6.8% From a Year Earlier

China's economy slowed in the third quarter of the year, as Beijing's efforts to cut debt levels and curb property speculation started to eat into overall growth.

China's gross domestic product expanded by 6.8% in the July-September period from a year earlier, decelerating from a 6.9% gain in the first half of the year, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday. The figure matched a forecast by economists polled by The Wall Street Journal.

--Liyan Qi and Grace Zhu

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 18, 2017 22:20 ET (02:20 GMT)