2018.01.1805:06:00UTC+00China GDP Growth Tops Expectations In 2017

China's economic expansion exceeded the government's full year target in 2017 as growth accelerated for the first time in seven years.

In 2017, gross domestic product expanded 6.9 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday. This was bigger than the government's target of about 6.5 percent and the 6.7 percent growth posted in 2016, which was the weakest in 26 years.

Premier Li Keqiang said last week that the economy would have expanded around 6.9 percent in 2017 and the economic situation is "better than expected".

In the fourth quarter, year-on-year GDP growth held steady at 6.8 percent, while the rate was forecast to slow to 6.7 percent.

Another report from the NBS showed that industrial production advanced 6.2 percent annually in December, slightly faster than the 6.1 percent increase seen in November. Economists had forecast another 6.1 percent increase.

Meanwhile, retail sales growth eased to 9.4 percent in December from 10.2 percent in November. Sales were forecast to climb again by 10.2 percent.

For the whole year of 2017, industrial production advanced 6.6 percent, as expected. At the same time, retail sales logged an annual growth of 10.2 percent.

Fixed asset investment increased at a slower pace of 7.2 percent in 2017.

Looking ahead, Julian Evans-Pritchard, an economist at Capital Economics, said tight monetary conditions and slowing credit growth will continue to weigh on the pace of economic expansion in coming quarters.

Indeed, the economist expects growth to average a mere 4.5 percent this year, though investors will probably need to look beyond the official GDP figures for evidence of this.

The World Bank forecast China's growth to edge down in 2018 to 6.4 percent as policies tighten, and average 6.3 percent in 2019-20.

House price data released earlier in the day showed that house prices in majority of the Chinese cities increased in December. On a monthly basis, house prices climbed in 57 out of 70 cities surveyed by the government.