BEIJING: Growth in China's exports and imports slowed in December from the previous month, official data showed Tuesday, as domestic tightening measures and turbulence in the United States and Europe hit demand.
Exports rose 13.4 percent year on year to $174.72 billion, compared with a rise of 13.8 percent in November, the customs agency said in a statement.
Imports increased 11.8 percent to $158.2 billion in December, compared with a rise of 22.1 percent in November.
The 2011 trade surplus -- flagged by Commerce Minister Chen Deming last week -- narrowed to $155.14 billion from $183 billion in 2010, customs said, amid the turmoil in Europe and the United States.
The data is likely to fuel worries that the world's second largest economy and biggest exporter is losing steam as the deepening eurozone crisis threatens to tip the global economy back into recession.
Export growth is expected to halve this year from 2011 as European woes and a sluggish US economy drag Chinese expansion below nine percent for the first time in more than a decade.
Gross domestic product growth could slow to 8.5 percent in 2012, a senior government researcher said last month.
But it would still be within the official annual target of 7-8 percent, a level seen as necessary to create enough jobs to keep a lid on social unrest in the country of more than 1.3 billion people.
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