China's economy grew 4.5% in the third quarter, official data show

China’s gross domestic product grew 4.5% in the July-September quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday 19 October. Growth was 4.3% in the second quarter.

The figure was above the 4.4% expected by economists in a Reuters poll, CNBC reported. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy grew 1.2%, according to the NBS.

For the first nine months of the year, growth was 4.6%, with output of about 107.11 trillion yuan (about US$15.94 trillion), Xinhua reported. NBS deputy head Mao Shengyong said that pace was in line with the government’s annual target. CNBC said the official target range is 4.5% to 5%.

Goods imports and exports rose 18.8% from a year earlier to 39.94 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, according to the NBS figures reported by Xinhua. The surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.2% in September.

Fixed-asset investment in urban areas fell 7.2% in January-September from a year earlier, and real estate development investment fell 20.6%, according to the NBS. Industrial output rose 5.5% in September from a year earlier, and producer prices rose 5.0%.

Tianchen Xu, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told CNBC that government investment, exports and a low comparison base supported the September figures, and forecast full-year growth of 4.7%. Sheana Yue, senior economist at Oxford Economics, told CNBC that the housing downturn “will continue to limit the spillover from stronger industrial activity to the wider economy”.

Mao said China would step up efforts to expand domestic demand and improve supply, Xinhua reported.