'Resilient' growth tops Q1 forecasts

GDP hits 6.9%, best in over a year, in positive sign for China and world

China's economy got off to a strong start in the first quarter, with GDP expanding at a higher-than-expected 6.9 percent year-on-year. The result, analysts said, has laid a solid foundation for the country to achieve its growth target of at least 6.5 percent this year.

GDP growth in the first three months, marking the quickest pace since the last quarter of 2015, was 0.1 percentage point higher than the 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. Full-year GDP growth for 2016 was 6.7 percent.