SHANGHAI, China (AP) - China's economy grew a stunning 10.9 percent in the second quarter, a state-run newspaper reported Thursday, also reporting sharp gains in industrial production and investment.
The figures suggest that measures to curb investment and cool growth have yet to take hold. Official data for the first half of the year won't be released until later this month.
The 10.9 percent growth in the April-June period from a year ago reported by the state-run newspaper Securities Times is even faster than the 10.3 percent growth recorded in the first quarter.
Industrial output, meanwhile, rose 19.5 percent in the second quarter from the same period last year, while spending on construction and factory equipment, known in China as ''fixed assets investment,'' surged 35 percent, the Securities Times report said, citing unnamed sources.
The consumer price index, the main measure of inflation, rose 1.5 percent in June from a year earlier, the report said.
On Wednesday, the country's top planning agency forecast that China would report 10.4 percent growth for the first half of the year, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
In that report, the National Development and Reform Commission reiterated earlier calls for stronger action to curb excessive investment in factories and construction, viewed one of the key factors keeping growth at what China's leaders say are unsustainably high levels.
It suggested a further ''mild'' increase of 0.25 percentage point in the country's benchmark lending rate, following an increase of 0.27 percentage points in late April to 5.85 percent.
Officials at the National Bureau of Statistics told Dow Jones Newswires they could not confirm the figures, but that a news conference would be held July 18 to report on economic performance for June and for the first half of the year.
