BEIJING, Nov 28: China will meet its target for annual economic growth of 7.5 per cent this year despite the impact of the global slowdown, state media quoted a top trade official as saying on Wednesday.

“China’s economy has advanced this year despite global economic headwinds,” Commerce Minister Chen Deming was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying.

“Full-year growth will be consistent with predictions made at the beginning of 2012,” he told a financial conference. China’s economic growth hit a more than three-year low of 7.4 per cent in the third quarter this year, but recent data has fuelled optimism that the world’s second largest economy is rebounding.

China in March set a goal of 7.5 per cent growth this year, down from 9.2 per cent growth recorded last year and 10.4 per cent in 2010. Premier Wen Jiabao, who is expected to step down next year, made similar comments about the economy in September, saying China was on course to meet its 2012 growth target.

China sets its annual economic growth target at the once-yearly meeting of the National People’s Congress, the country's legislature, at a session which is held every March.—AFP