Both exports and foreign direct investment (FDI) shrank in November, indicating that the global economic downturn hit China's economy harder than expected, according to data released yesterday.

Exports in November fell by 2.2 percent to $114.9 billion, the first monthly decline in seven years, the Customs said on its website yesterday. Foreign direct investment dropped by 36.52 percent year-on-year in November to $5.3 billion, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

"It is like the economy went down the slide in 1998, but now it is going down at a speed of diving," said Gene Ma, macroeconomic analyst for China Economic Business Monitor.