China's economic growth holds steady at 6.8%

China's economic growth held steady at 6.8 per cent over a year earlier in the quarter ending in March, buoyed by retail sales and investment.

Data released today showed growth in the world's second-largest economy was down slightly from 2017's full-year expansion of 6.9 per cent but in line with the quarter ending in December.

Forecasters are expecting growth to cool this year as Beijing tries to rein in rising debt by tightening controls to cool a boom in real estate sales and bank lending.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted industrial output growth would cool to 6.2 per cent from 7.2 per cent in the first two months of the year.

Investment growth had also been expected to ease, to 7.6 per cent in the first three months of the year, from 7.9 per cent in January-February.

Private-sector fixed-asset investment rose 8.9 per cent in January-March, compared with an increase of 8.1 per cent in the first two months, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

Private investment accounts for about 60 per cent of overall investment in China.

Retail sales rose 10.1 per cent in March from a year earlier, beating expectations of an increase of 9.9 per cent, compared with a rise of 9.7 per cent in the first two months.
The government has set an economic growth target of around 6.5 per cent this year, the same goal as in 2017. Actual growth last year came in much stronger at 6.9 per cent, due largely to an infrastructure-led construction boom, resurgent exports and record bank lending. 

(With inputs from agencies)