BEIJING: China said Tuesday its economy grew by 9.2 percent last year, a slower pace than in 2010, as efforts to tame inflation and turbulence in Europe and the United States curbed business activity.
Gross domestic product in China, the world's second-largest economy, rose by 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, slower than in the third quarter, but still exceeding analyst expectations.
Output from the country's millions of factories and workshops rose 13.9 percent for all of 2011, a slower pace than in 2010, as manufacturers faced reduced demand from key markets in the United States and Europe.
Urban fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 23.8 percent over the 12 months -- slower than in the previous year as Beijing started to wind back stimulus measures.
Retail sales, a key indicator of consumer spending, rose 17.1 percent in 2011, a slightly slower pace than in 2010.
Year-on-year growth in China has slowed for four straight quarters as Beijing -- anxious about soaring costs -- has restricted lending and hiked interest rates, while US and European demand for Chinese-made products has weakened.
Nonetheless the fourth-quarter GDP growth beat a forecast of 8.6 percent by analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. Li Huiyong, economist at Shenyin Wanguo Securities in Shanghai, said they indicated China may avoid a hard landing.
"This indicates our economy is still good and quite stable, and a soft landing for the economy is more possible. Therefore, the government is likely to postpone the next policy easing move," he said.
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