BEIJING (Dow Jones)--China should be "confident" of its economic performance this year, despite gloomy economic prospects for the European Union and the U.S., Statistics Bureau Chief Ma Jiantang said Tuesday.
"The fundamentals for China's stable, relatively fast economic growth in the medium to long term haven't changed... For the economy in 2012, we should still be full of confidence," Ma said at a press briefing.
He said China's fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth of 8.9% is "within a normal range," and consistent with the government's macro-economic policy goals.
Ma made his remarks shortly after the bureau announced China's gross domestic product data. The 8.9% on-year growth in the fourth quarter of 2011 was slower than the previous quarter's 9.1% rise, but faster than economists' expectations for an 8.6% expansion. For the 2011 full year, China's GDP rose 9.2%, compared with a 10.4% expansion in 2010.
Ma said China should maintain its proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy as the external economic environment is complicated.
Weakness in Europe and the U.S. are widely expected to hurt China's export growth this year, particularly in the first half.
Ma noted that China still faces medium- and long-term price pressures, with the longer-term pressures stemming from rising wages and land costs.
"It looks like China's biggest domestic economic challenge is still maintaining stable, relatively fast growth while also ensuring relative stability in price levels and making progress in (economic) restructuring," he said.
China has adopted tighter monetary policies to prevent inflation from spiraling out of control, but Beijing has more recently eased up on its monetary curbs.
Ma said he didn't see big challenges arising from local government debt or weakness in the real estate market, though these areas need to be monitored.
Economists have said these two areas pose the greatest risks to the nation's banking system.
Ma also said China should accelerate its economic restructuring and aim for relatively fast and balanced economic growth.
-By Owen Fletcher, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 8400 7702; owen.fletcher@dowjones.com
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