China's economy appears to have taken a hit in the face of global financial

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crisis and falling exports, registering a single digit growth rate at 9.2 per cent for the first time in three decades, with projections for the coming year also suggesting a decline.

While the growth rate of 9.2 per cent in 2011 was better than the government's target of 8.0 per cent, it was down from the 10.4 per cent growth in 2010.

The fourth quarter of the last year registered 8.9 per cent, which is the slowest in the last ten quarters or two and a half years, Ma Jiantang, Chief of China National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), told the media here today.

Chinese economy had managed to retain its decades of double digit growth till 2010. But it started slowing down since, growing by 9.1 per cent in the third quarter of 2011, compared to 9.5 per cent in the second quarter and 9.7 per cent in the first quarter.

The expansion of China's GDP is further expected to come down to around 8.5 per cent in 2012, according to official projections.

The financial slowdown and contraction in the West has hit the robust growth rates in the emerging economies as well.

India's economic growth too is expected to grow at 7 per cent in the current fiscal, down from last year's 8.5 per cent, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conceding that the country was passing through difficult times.

According to preliminary statistics, China's GDP reached 47.16 trillion yuan ($ 7.26 trillion) in 2011, Ma said.