China's economy grew 8.9% in the third quarter of 2009, the government said today, in a strong sign the world's third-largest economy was on the road to recovery.
The Asian giant expanded at the fastest quarterly rate in a year after growing 7.9% in the second quarter and 6.1% in the first three months of the year, which was the slowest pace in more than a decade.
China's gross domestic product grew by 7.7% in the first nine months of 2009 compared with the same time a year ago, after growing by 7.1% in the first half, the National Bureau of Statistics said.
Despite the pick-up in growth, the government warned of major challenges in resolving imbalances in the economy.
'At present, it is the crucial stage for the national economy to realise a stable growth, yet the basis of the economic recovery still needs to be consolidated,' bureau spokesman Liu Xiaochao said.
'The insufficient external demand is still severe,' he said, adding that 'expanding domestic demand and making structural adjustments remain an arduous task'.
Before the global crisis struck, the Chinese economy had experienced double digit growth from 2003 to 2007 and again in the first two quarters of 2008.
The latest turnaround has been underpinned by an unprecedented four-trillion-yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package unveiled last November and massive bank lending in the first six months of 2009.
Beijing has said it is on track to meet its target of 8% growth for 2009, a level seen as essential for job creation and social stability in the nation of 1.3 billion people.
China's urban fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure and a key driver of the recovery, rose 33.3% in the first nine months compared with a year earlier, the bureau said.
The nation's consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, fell 1.1% in the first nine months compared with the same time a year earlier. Industrial output, which shows activity in the nation's millions of factories and workshops, expanded by 8.7% in the months from January to September.
