China growth strong in Q3

China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 7.7 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace of quarterly expansion in 2013, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Friday.

"The world's second largest economy realized steady growth and good momentum," the NBS said in a statement.

"The major indicators stayed within the rational range, which was in favor of promoting economic restructuring and pushing forward reforms."

The latest figure, coming after 7.7 percent and 7.5 percent growth in the first two quarters, suggests that the Chinese economy remains on track to meet the governments target of 7.5 percent growth this year.

However, NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun warned of pressures facing the economy as global growth conditions were worsening and the country was struggling with structural problems.

"The economy is facing complex and uncertain international conditions. In addition, we have accumulated chronic structural imbalance problems and need to deepen reforms to address them," he told a news conference.

In September, exports surprisingly fell by 0.3 percent after global demand for Chinese goods crumbled. The Chinese currency yuan also surged to a record high putting additional strain on exporters. In addition, Beijing's new economic policy seeking to boost domestic consumption rather than growth driven by exports and investment hasn't yet come to bear.

Therefore, analysts expect China's growth rate to fall in the final quarter of this year.

"The growth peak was behind us in the third quarter," Merrill Lynch economist Ting Lu told Reuters news agency.

And HSBC analyst Ma Xiaoping told news agency AFP that the momentum of the rebound was not strong enough to propel fourth-quarter growth.

uhe/ccp (AFP, Reuters, dpa)