China's economic growth slid to a five-year low in the third quarter as a worsening global credit crisis put the brakes on exports and threatens to drag annual growth to a single digit this year.

GDP growth dropped to 9 percent in the past quarter, the fifth consecutive quarter of deceleration and the first time in single digits in five years, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

The figures were released a day after the central government announced a range of measures to maintain steady economic growth despite the global downturn.