Economic growth in Q1 drops to 7.4%

Policymakers say figures within reasonable range

Stock markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong closed slightly higher on Wednesday after China reported first quarter GDP growth of 7.4 percent year-on-year, beating market expectations of 7.2 to 7.3 percent.

It is the lowest quarterly growth figure since the third quarter of 2012, although there were positive data for the job market and household income.

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The nation's top policymakers said the first quarter figures for the economy are "within a reasonable range", and they will not have to launch major stimulus measures.

"Growth, employment and inflation are all within the targeted range, which shows the economy is running at a reasonable pace," said a statement issued after a State Council executive meeting presided over by Premier Li Keqiang.

Sheng Laiyun, spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics, said China created 3.44 million new urban jobs in the period, 40,000 more than a year earlier.

Urban per capita disposable income rose by 7.2 percent in real terms from a year earlier, the bureau said. Rural income increased by 10.1 percent.

Huo Deming, an economics professor at the National School of Development under Peking University, said: "Given the Chinese economy is in a transitional period, the growth rate is quite good. Considering the uniqueness of China's economy, the deceleration is largely a result of government provocative maneuvering."

Jan Knoerich, who lectures on the Chinese economy at King's College London, said, "For more than a year, the Chinese leadership has quite successfully prepared the public for an era of lower growth rates, thus shifting public expectations on what an appropriate level of economic growth for China should be."

Slowing fixed-asset investment, industrial output and disappointing export data were behind the weakening growth.

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