Economy to face challenges in second half

The country's economy has maintained steady and rapid growth in the first half but faces increasing uncertainty for the rest of the year, a senior government official said yesterday.

"Negative impact on the economy will continue," said Zhu Zhixin, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner, in a press conference.

The economy expanded 10.4 percent year-on-year in the first half, NDRC figures showed. The growth rate was 1.8 percentage points lower than the same period a year ago, as the government reportedly put in place a series of measures to cool the economy and weakening overseas demand dealt a blow to the export sector.