China’s economy grew at 6.9 per cent in 2017, the fastest pace in two years, despite policymakers making headway towards curbing financial risk from excessive debt growth.
The country’s 6.8 per cent growth for the fourth quarter — exactly the number officially predicted — locked in China’s first yearly gross domestic product acceleration since 2010. The annual figure overshot the government’s original full-year target of “around 6.5 per cent”.
Entering 2017, most analysts had expected policymakers to ensure solid growth in the run-up to October’s five-yearly Communist party congress, at which President Xi Jinping strengthened his hold on power.