China’s annual economic growth sped up in 2017, the first time it has done in seven years. According to Caixin, the economy’s resilience is likely to embolden the government to push forward much-needed reforms to rein in debt, reduce pollution and make state-run enterprises more efficient.
The country’s gross domestic product grew 6.9% in 2017, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics Thursday. This was in line with a prediction made by Premier Li Keqiang last week, and higher than the government’s target of “around 6.5%” growth. China’s economy grew 6.7% in 2016.
Economists attributed the increasing growth rate to a number of factors, including strong growth in government-backed infrastructure investment, a pick-up in overseas demand for Chinese exports, and resilient real-estate investment despite the introduction of policies to cool the property market.