China’s economy expands 6.9% in 2017, beats forecasts

BEIJING - China's economy ended 2017 on strong footing with a better-than-expected growth rate and improved structure, official data shows. The world's second largest economy expanded 6.9% on-year in 2017, higher than the 6.7% growth registered in 2016, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

China’s State newsagency, Xinhua, reported that the reading marked the first acceleration in the annual growth pace in seven years and was well above the official target of around 6.5%.

"Major macro-economic indicators all beat market expectations, pointing to economic stabilisation," said Ning Jizhe, head of the NBS.

Growth in the fourth quarter came in at 6.8%, unchanged from the rate seen in the third quarter. Gross domestic product (GDP) totaled RMB 82.71 trillion (about USD 12.84 trillion) in 2017, with the service sector accounting for more than half of the total. Consumption was the major growth driver, contributing 58.8% to GDP growth last year.

The strong growth was also helped by robust trade, which reversed a downward trend seen in the previous two years and contributed about 9% to GDP expansion in 2017, Xinhua said.  www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).