China’s economy grew 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, matching expectations and the slowest since the global financial crisis, putting pressure on Beijing to roll out more support measures as fears of a sharper slowdown panic investors. After being a major locomotive of global growth in recent years, China is locked in the midst of a protracted slowdown, weighed down by weak exports, factory overcapacity, slowing investment, a soft property market and high debt levels.