After years of rapid growth, the economy has been hit by a housing slump and the impact of the global economic slowdown on its export markets. Economists predict GDP expanded at an annual rate of between 6 per cent and 7.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, down from 9 per cent the period before and 13 per cent annual growth in 2007.

Amid expectations the months ahead could get even worse with a drip-feed of ever weaker data from industry, Wen Jiabao, premier, will visit Europe next week to discuss responses to the crisis. In a statement on Monday, he said: “We must do our first-quarter economic work with all our strength to reverse this downward economic trend as quickly as possible.”

Yet while the GDP figures will give some insight into just how sharply China is slowing as a result of the global financial crisis, attention is already shifting to recent indicators which some economists suggest hold promise of an early recovery in investment but which have also raised the risk of a “double-dip” slump in growth in 2010.