Economy

Chinese economy expands 9.7% in Q1

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-15 10:28

BEIJING - China's economy expanded 9.7 percent in first quarter 2011 from a year earlier, and 2.1 percent from the previous quarter to 9,631.1 billion yuan ($1,459.3 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Friday.

"The national economy had a good beginning with steady and relatively fast growth," said Sheng Laiyun, spokesman of the NBS.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, the economy grew 9.8 percent year on year from 9.6 percent in the third quarter, after slowing down from 11.9 percent in the first quarter and 10.3 percent in the second.