Beijing
CHINA'S economy grew 6.9 per cent last year, its first year-on-year acceleration since 2010, on a robust industrial sector and solid exports as the global economy picked up, supporting demand for Chinese goods.
The upbeat data will leave room for further structural reform and deleveraging, say analysts, who add that recent stringent anti-polluting measures have already started to weigh on production.
"The economy is cruising along at impressive speed, breezing past potential speed bumps with apparent ease," said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economics research at HSBC. "If China keeps up its current speed, the next stop will be inflation. Some cooling of growth momentum at the start...