BEIJING -- As government stimulus provided a much-needed boost to the world's second-largest economy, China’s growth accelerated to a forecast-beating 7.5% in the second quarter.
The April-June figure from the National Bureau of Statistics compared with 7.4% in the previous three months. But some analysts remain pessimistic about the full-year outlook given persistent concerns over the huge but troubled property sector.
"Generally speaking, China's economy showed good momentum of stable and moderate growth in the first half-year," NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun said. "However we should keep in mind that the domestic and international economic environment is still complicated and the national economy still faces many challenges."
The NBS also said China's economy expanded 7.4% in the first half of the year.
The results come after Beijing introduced a series of policies since April in response to concerns over slowing growth, including tax breaks for small enterprises, targeted infrastructure spending and the encouragement of lending in rural areas and to small companies.
The government's efforts, which economists have dubbed "mini-stimulus", have had a short-term stabilizing effect. But the NBS statement said most key property indicators declined in the first half, with home sales values down 9.2%.
Separately, the NBS said industrial production, which measures output at factories, workshops and mines, rose 9.2% year-on-year in June.
Retail sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, increased 12.4% in the same month, while fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 17.3% on-year in the first six months.
- Fran Wang, AFP
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
