BEIJING (Sputnik) — Thus, China managed to exceed its target of 6.5 percent growth, set by the government for 2017.
“According to the preliminary estimation, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China was 38,149.0 billion yuan [$5,632 billion] in the first half of 2017, a year-on-year increase of 6.9 percent at comparable prices. Specifically, the year-on-year growth was 6.9 percent for the first quarter, and 6.9 percent for the second quarter,” the bureau said in a statement.
In March, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang defended the 2017 target GDP growth rate and said that it was not a low and would not be easy to achieve.
In 2016, China's GDP grew 6.7 percent, which is its worst performance in the past 26 years.