BEIJING - The confidence of Chinese entrepreneurs is experiencing a continuous decline in the fourth quarter as more are concerned over the slowdown of the world's second largest economy.

An index measuring the overall confidence of entrepreneurs for the real economy dropped 1.8 percentage points to 68.4 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter, survey results released Thursday by China's central bank showed.

Meanwhile, another index tracking entrepreneurs' views of the current economy for the fourth quarter stood at 41.7 percent, staying below the good-bad gauge of 50 percent for a second straight quarter, and further declining six percentage points from the previous quarter.

The nation's economic growth slowed to 9.1 percent in the third quarter from 9.7 percent and 9.5 percent in the first two quarters, respectively, amid the economic plight facing the world's major developed economies.

Of the 5,000 companies surveyed, 24.8 percent hold that the nation's economic status quo is "relatively cool," while a decreasing number of them believe that things are still normal, with the percentage dropping from 74.3 percent in the first quarter to only 67.1 percent currently.