China added to the drip-feed of encouraging news on Monday with a top central banker saying the government's stimulus has worked better than expected and crude imports data showing a spike in demand.

Global stock markets have rallied in recent weeks on hopes the US economy will start growing again later this year and that banks were getting back on their feet after the industry was caught in the worst financial crisis in six decades.

China, for years the world's factory floor, also plays a big part in the recovery scenario with many economies in Asia relying on Chinese demand and markets scrutinizing Beijing's data for any signs of global demand bottoming out.

"China's economy is expected to sustain rapid growth for some period in the future," deputy central bank governor Su Ning told a financial conference.

Premier Wen Jiabao pitched in, too, telling State radio that the government's response to the financial crisis went far beyond its $586 billion stimulus and suggested it would be rolling out new initiatives throughout the year.

Su's comments coincided with China's release of April price data that showed both consumer and producer prices kept falling last month. But markets saw the falls as a natural reaction to last year's surge in prices rather than a symptom of weakness of demand, with analysts predicting a return to moderate inflation in the second half of the year.

In yet another sign that China's industry was pulling out of a deep slump late in 2008 and early this year, crude oil imports in April jumped 13.6 percent from a year earlier, a source said. That was the first annual gain this year and the second-highest daily rate.

Chinese officials have sounded increasingly confident in the past weeks that the economy can regain traction and meet the government's 8 percent growth goal this year.