A new report released by the Chinese government says the country’s manufacturing activity has decreased for the third month in a row.

The report released on Sunday by China’s statistics authority has added to fears about dampening economic growth in the world's second largest economy, alarming analysts that the fall in growth rate is faster than policymakers admit.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics’ report, China’s official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) stood at 49.8 last month, showing further fall for the third straight month, AFP reported.

The index tracks the ongoing activity in China's very important factory and workshop sector and was unchanged from the previous month. A figure above 50 for the index is a sign of expansion, while anything below that figure indicates shrinkage.

The Chinese government has announced that the country’s economy grew at 6.9 percent between July and September this year, which has been recognized as the slowest pace since the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2009.

Many analysts, however, believe that China's actual growth is significantly lower, pointing to weakness in trade data and alternative indexes such as the PMI.

Beijing says economic growth will further slow down as the economy moves away from a growth model based on investment and exports towards consumption. Chinese officials, however, believe that the economic slowdown will not reach a stage of "hard landing."

The Chinese government has issued a series of policies aimed at stimulating growth, last week abolishing its official cap on interest rates for savers and announcing further relaxation of monetary policy.

But government intervention to see off a stock market rout this summer has increased doubts over policymakers' competence in managing a transition to a more market-based economy.

The latest figure on China’s manufacturing sector shows ongoing "sluggish" economic activity, Australian bank ANZ said in a statement.

"While the PMI has stabilized, it is too early to confirm a bottoming out," the statement said, adding that further monetary easing was likely.