Chinese exports grew and money supply expanded in September, beating consensus expectations to close out the third quarter, The Wall Street Journal reported. China’s trade surplus grew as exports rose to a monthly record of US$186.4 billion, a 9.9% gain on the previous year, and imports increased 2.4%. China’s M2 money supply measure also jumped 14.8% year-on-year at the end of September. The positive news comes in advance of third-quarter GDP growth figures, scheduled to be released Thursday, which economists expect to show the slowest growth in more than three years. Citigroup (C.NYSE, 8710.TYO) economist Ding Shuang questioned how sustainable current trade growth is, saying “it remains to be seen whether import and export growth can remain at these levels.” Economists only expected 5% export growth and 2% import growth for the month, according to a Wall Street Journal survey.