The file photo shows Li Pumin, Secretary-general and spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission. [Photo: jingji.cntv.cn]

China's top economic regulator has announced that the country's economic growth for 2015 may come out at around 7 percent, which is in line with earlier targets.

Li Pumin, secretariat-general of the National Development and Reform commission, says economic growth in 2015 has been steady, and the growth target has been reached as expected.

"The GDP growth rate in the first three quarters reached 6.9 percent with a growth rate of 7 percent in the first quarter which is basically in line with the earlier set target. Employment was stable with 12.5 million new jobs created for urban residents in the first eleven months and the whole year will see about 13 million new jobs for urban residents. The CPI grew 1.4 percent year on year. And the average disposable income of residents saw a growth of 7.7 percent, faster than the economic growth."

Li highlighted China's achievements in 2015 including investment in fixed assets, innovation, and structural economic reform.

He says China approved 260 fixed asset investment projects worth more than 2.5 trillion yuan or around 380 billion US dollars in the past year.

An average of 10 000 new companies are registered per day. the service sector exceeded 50 percent of GDP for the first time.

Li's comments come in the wake of plunging Chinese stock markets and a sharp slide in the yuan currency. Both have stoked investors' concerns about China's economy.

The official says China will be faced with more challenges in the coming years including further readjustment of the global economy, the negative effects of slower economic growth, and some other deeply rooted problems. To deal with these problems, more proactive measures will be taken to shore up the economy in the future.

"we will adopt a more proactive fiscal policy, a flexible and prudent monetary policy, while keeping the economic performance within a reasonable range. Reform on the supply side will be accelerated. The reform will especially emphasize the changes in the structure of demand, cutting over-capacity and over-inventory. The reform stresses expanding overall demand while improve the quality and efficiency on the supply side and fostering new growth engine. "

The official notes that in 2015 China accelerated overseas investment in infrastructure projects, especially nuclear energy.

"There have been major steps for our overseas investments in nuclear energy. The nuclear project in Karachi Pakistan went smoothly. China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company has signed cooperation agreements on nuclear-related projects with Britain and Argentina respectively. The deal struck between Shanghai Electric and a power plant in South Africa has helped China's core equipment for nuclear power to enter the global market. "

Li also says the economic regulator is formulating the 13th Five-Year Plan on national economic and social development from 2016 to 2020. The plan emphasizes the new development concepts of innovation, openness and sharing, as well as structural reforms and serving the well being of all society.