China says confident of meeting 2015 growth target

BEIJING - A senior Chinese official said Friday that the economy is showing signs of improvement, helped by policy support, and is on track to meet its growth target of around 7 percent this year.

Expressing his confidence that China would meet this target, Sheng Laiyun, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said "China's economy is operating steadily in the first three quarters of the year, which has laid a solid foundation for achieving the full-year growth target."

The economy is showing some signs of positive changes, citing a month-on-month expansion of industrial production in October, accelerating increase in retail sales and growth in November's non-manufacturing producer managers' index, according to an article posted on the NBS website.

China's economy grew 6.9 percent from one year earlier in the January-September period, while employment situation remaining sound, the increase of income outgrowing that of GDP, grain output registering its 12th straight year of increase this year, providing support for the country to reach its annual growth target, Sheng said.

On Saturday, NBS is scheduled to release an array of economic data for November, including industrial output, fixed asset investment and retail sales.

Despite slowdown in some economic indicators, Chinese leaders have repeatedly stated that the economy is moving within a reasonable range and the country will maintain reforms to ensure steady economic growth.

For the longer term, Sheng said, "China's economy still has strong intrinsic tenacity, huge potential and ample leeway," promising for a steady and sustainable development as the country further advances reform and opening up and tries to steer the economy toward a growth model based more on entrepreneurship and innovation.