China’s GDP touches 6.7pc mark

BEIJING: China's gross domestic product expanded 6.7 percent year on year in the first three quarters of 2018 to about 65.09 trillion yuan ($9.38 trillion), data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Friday.

The pace was in line with market expectations and higher than the government's annual growth target of around 6.5 percent. In the third quarter, China's GDP rose 6.5 percent from a year ago, compared to a 6.7-percent increase in the second quarter, the NBS said in a statement.

The economy has expanded in a reasonable range and maintained a trend of overall stability and steady progress, the statistical authority said, while acknowledging that the country faces more external challenges and rising downward pressure.

The service sector gained 7.7 percent year on year in the January-September period, picking up from a 7.6-percent increase in the first half, and outpacing 3.4 percent in primary industry and 5.8 percent in secondary industry.

Meanwhile, Chinese investment in foreign countries has been growing continuously, with non-financial outbound foreign direct investment (FDI) rising to $82 billion in the first nine months of 2018, an increase of 5.1 percent year-on-year, Economic Daily reported.

Statistics released by China’s Ministry of Commerce on also indicate that foreign projects newly contracted by Chinese companies in the first three quarters of this year amounted to $154.5 billion, with a turnover of $109 billion realized during the same period, up 6.4 percent from the same period last year.

As of this September, Chinese firms have invested $36.63 billion in 113 overseas economic and trade cooperation zones which are under construction in 46 countries.