Graphic: GT

China's GDP expanded 6.3 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, the fastest growth in two years, taking first-half growth to 5.5 percent to 59.3 trillion yuan ($8.3 trillion). The country's economic recovery continues steadily amid headwinds including a volatile international environment, a slowdown in global trade and investment as well as financial turbulence.

With more support policies being rolled out, China is capable of achieving its annual growth target of around 5 percent this year as well as steady and sustained high-quality development for a long time to come, and the Chinese economy will continue to be a key driver for the world economy, analysts said on Monday.

The growth rate means the fastest pace since the second quarter of 2021, when growth hit 8.3 percent. In the first quarter of 2023, China's GDP grew by 4.5 percent.

"The achievement is hard-won amid multiple domestic and external challenges. It reflects that Chinese consumers' confidence wasn't seriously damaged and that the country's dual circulation development paradigm driven by high-tech sector offsets slowdown in external demand," Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University, told the Global Times.

He said there were multiple highlights contributing to China's economic recovery in the second quarter, including sales of new-energy vehicles and relevant components, steady foreign trade growth and stable growth of infrastructure investment.

Global Times