The government officially announced that it expects the Chinese economy to grow at a rate of more than 8 percent next year.
The deputy-director of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) made the public remarks in a possible signal that officials who support a faster economic growth rate are winning the current intense internal government debate over whether more should be done to cool the rocketing economy.
The economy grew 9.1 per cent in the third quarter and is on track to reach a full-year growth rate of 8.5 percent, much higher than the government's forecast of 7 percent.
China's retail sales, which grew 9.7 percent in the third quarter, were still low.