HONG KONG – China’s economy expanded at a 6.9 percent pace in 2017, faster than expected and the first annual increase in seven years, the government reported Thursday.
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The numbers beat economists’ forecasts for the world’s second largest economy and the Chinese government’s own official growth target of 6.5 percent. The economy expanded at a 6.7 percent pace in 2016, its slowest pace in 26 years.
Growth in the fourth quarter held steady at 6.8 percent, the report said.
It said strong demand for exports and buoyant consumer spending helped drive the faster expansion. Those factors helped to offset curbs on bank lending that forecasters had predicted would be a drag on economic growth.
“The national economy has maintained the momentum of stable and sound development and exceeded expectations,” said the report released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
