BEIJING - The growth rate of China's industrial value-added output in 2012 is likely to slide 1 to 2 percentage points from this year, due to growing uncertainties worldwide, a government official said Thursday.

"The industrial production growth rate will moderate, but the sector will still run at a steady and relatively fast pace," said Huang Libin, an inspection and coordination official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, at a press conference.

He said cooling external demands due to economic turmoil in Europe and US, combined with the weakening domestic demand brought by the tightening monetary policy were the main forces driving the growth down.

He also warned that the world economy will face more uncertainties next year.