China's economy increased by 6.9 percent in the third quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2014, the National Bureau of Statistics revealed on Monday. While the economy slightly outperformed the predictions of analysts, it is the first time that China's quarterly growth rate has been below seven percent in more than five years.

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China's economy has experienced a slowdown since July when stock prices plunged. Authorities have taken several steps to arrest the downward trend, including repeatedly cutting interest rate, investigating stock manipulation and encouraging stakeholders to buy back shares.

Also, with the world's developing markets still reeling from the effects of the recession, China's traditional sources of economic growth - manufacturing, imports and exports - have suffered in recent months. This has forced authorities to attempt to stabilize the economy by deepening reform and shifting focus from industries and manufacturing to consumption and the services sector. Financial analysts across the world were alarmed in August after China devalued the yuan. There are speculations that there are plans to devalue the yuan further next year.

Last week, Premier Li Keqiang explained that the nation must continue to give impetus to the new drivers of economic growth as the traditional engines for expansion are failing. He said the government will continue to reform state-owned enterprises in this regard and will provide more assistance to startups.

Many financial analysts have pointed out that strong fiscal spending as well as the focus on new areas of the economy may have prevented China's economy from performing much worse. But critics question if these efforts will prevent the country's quarterly growth rate from sliding further in the future.

Earlier in the month, the World Bank released its annual East Asia Pacific Update, which predicted that China's economic growth rate will reduce gradually over the next two years. However, the bank said that it does not expect any sharp depreciation in the Chinese economy.

On Friday, HSBC Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver expressed similar sentiments about the Chinese economy during a speech in London. "The fluctuations and stock market volatility have little or no bearing on the long-term trends around China," he said.

According to Gulliver, China's attempts to reform its economy will not be "straightforward." However, "China should and will continue to ease controls in a steady and measured manner," he concluded.

TagsChina Q3 GDP, China Economic Growth Rate, China GDP, China National Bureau of Statistics GDP, China stock market, yuan