China said Monday it will delay the release of growth figures for the third quarter along with a host of other economic indicators expected this week, as the country's leadership gathers for a meeting set to hand President Xi Jinping a historic third term in office.
Beijing's National Bureau of Statistics announced that the release of the economic data would be "postponed", without specifying a reason or timeline for the figures to be released.
China was expected to announce on Tuesday some of its weakest quarterly growth figures since 2020, with its economy hobbled by Covid-19 restrictions and a real estate crisis.
The postponement comes as officials from China's ruling Communist Party meet in Beijing for their 20th Congress, which is set to rubber stamp Xi's bid to rule for another term.
Many analysts had expected the world's second-largest economy would struggle to attain its growth target this year of around 5.5 percent, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered its GDP growth forecast to 3.2 percent for 2022 and 4.4 percent for 2023.
Customs authorities had separately delayed the release of September's trade figures last week, without providing an explanation.
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