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China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.8 percent on-year in the fourth quarter, slightly beating expectations.

The world's second-largest economy had been forecast to grow 6.7 percent in the quarter, according to a Reuters poll of 42 economists. That was in line with estimates from the head of China's state planning agency, who said on January 10 that the economy likely grew around 6.7 percent last year, Reuters reported.

For the full year, China's economy grew 6.7 percent. This may be China's slowest pace of growth in 26 years, but it remains within the range for Beijing to meet its longer-term goal of doubling GDP and per capita income by 2020 from 2010 levels.

China is set to announce a lower economic growth target for 2017 to around 6.5 percent, from last year's range of 6.5 to 6.7 percent, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The figures likely signalled that China's economic growth is starting to stabilize amid the country's transition toward domestic consumption and away from manufacturing- and investment-led growth.

Concerns have persisted over the mainland economy's health, as private-sector debt has surged even as the amount of growth from additional debt has declined. But the economy in recent months has received a fillip from a pickup in the property sector.

Additionally, reforms aimed at pruning sectors with too much capacity have been bearing fruit, helping to contribute to a pickup.

Analysts have pointed toward the recovery on the mainland.

"Growth momentum in China has actually improved a little bit in the second half of the year, led by the improvement in the industrial sectors and also the financial market recovery

But he noted that China's economic performance this year would depend on the global recovery, particularly whether the mainland's exports pick up. He estimated that declining exports had shaved 0.5 percentage point from China's GDP growth in 2016. If exports to the EU and US recover, that would turn "flat," and China's 2017 economic growth could pick up to around 6.8 percent, Li said.

Other data released on Friday also appeared to paint a less gloomy picture of the economy.

China's retail sales for December rose 10.9 percent on-year, slightly ahead of a Reuters poll forecasting 10.7 percent.

Industrial output for December rose 6.0 percent on-year, a tad below a Reuters poll forecast for 6.1 percent.

For the full year, fixed-asset investment rose 8.1 percent, slightly below a Reuters poll forecast for 8.3 percent, with Reuters noting that was the slowest pace of growth since 1999, during the Asian financial crisis

First Published:Jan 20, 2017 8:02 AM IST