China's industrial output rose 12.8 percent in August from a year earlier, the lowest in one and a half years, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday.

The pace, which decelerated for a second straight month, was 1.9 percentage points lower than July and 4.7 percentage points lower than last August.

The last slowest growth rate was 12.6 percent in February 2007 when many businesses closed during the Chinese lunar new year holiday.

Industrial output jumped 15.7 percent from January to August, down from 16.1 percent in the first 7 months and 18.4 percent in the same period last year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2008)