China’s economy held steady in May despite facing consistent downward pressures, said on Monday Sheng Laiyun, spokesperson of the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics.
A range of indicators such as industrial output, activity in the service sector, retailing, employment, and consumer prices showed the Chinese economy remained steady last month, Mr Sheng said at a press conference, as quoted by state-run news agency Xinhua.
The economy might be able to maintain “stable and relatively fast growth” in the remainder of the year, albeit facing headwinds in domestic and overseas markets, Mr Sheng noted. China would also continue to push forward with supply-side structural reforms, he added.
In the first quarter of this year, the Chinese economy expanded 6.7 percent from the prior-year period; the slowest growth since the global financial crisis in 2009. The Chinese Government said in March that the target range for growth this year was between 6.5 percent and 7 percent.
