China’s economy expanded by 9.2 percent in 2011 from the year earlierand 8.9 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, reported XinhuaNews Agency on Jan. 17.

The quarterly growth wasthe lowest in the latest 10 quarters. China set its full-yeargrowth target at 8 percent in early 2011 after its economy grew 10.3percent in 2010.

Xinhua cited the National Bureau ofStatistics (NBS) as saying that China ’s GDP in 2011 reached47.16 trillion RMB (7.26 trillion USD).

NBS datashowed China 's industrial value-added output growth eased in 2011from a year earlier to 13.9 percent year-on-year. The country'sfixed-asset investment, a measure of government spending oninfrastructure, rose 23.8 percent year-on-year. Retail sales, a keyindicator of consumer spending, rose 18.1 percent year-on-year inDecember 2011, up from the 17.3-percent growth seen in November.

Chinese economic expert said the country faces a complex externalenvironment in 2012, as the economies of the European Union and theUnited States remain sluggish, the global financial market isexperiencing turbulence and protectionism is on the rise.

2011 is the starting year of the 12 th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) ofChina . In the period, the country plans to make adjustments tomacro-economic policies./.