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TOKYO, April 16 (KUNA) -- China's economic growth slowed to 7.4 percent year-on-year in the January-March period, shrinking for the second quarter in a row, official data showed Wednesday.
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth of the world's No. 2 economy in the first quarter was lower than the 7.7-percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 and the slowest expansion since the third quarter of 2012, the National Bureau of Statistics said on its Website. GDP also missed the government-set 2014 growth target of 7.5 percent.
Chinese economists said the weaker growth suggested heavier downward pressure on the economy, but the growth rate was still within a reasonable range, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.
"I predicted the first-quarter GDP growth to be between 7.2 and 7.3 percent. Though slower, I don't think this level of growth is unbearable," Wang Jun, a senior researcher at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, was quoted as saying.
Wang pointed to the significance of measures taken by authorities in March targeting tax reductions and simplification of administrative procedures, as well as their plans to step up railway investment and renovation of shanty towns.
"These measures aim to stabilize growth. I think the economic momentum will increase from the second quarter and there's no need to worry the economy will slide out of control," he said.
The economic slowdown came amid a generally mild inflation rate in the first quarter, with the consumer price index, the main gauge of inflation, rising 2.4 percent in March. Earlier data also showed the country's exports and imports declined one percent year-on-year in the first quarter, while power consumption rose 5.4 percent year-on-year, though the March figure picked up steam and rose 7.2 percent. (end)
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