Experts call the GDP revision as a "normal adjustment." (Photo : REUTERS)
On Monday, China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced that it had revised China's 2014 gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate to 7.3 percent from the previously released figure of 7.4 percent, in what experts are calling a "normal adjustment."
The previous figure of 7.4, released in January, was the lowest ever recorded since 1990.
The government's announcement came as concerns on China's slowing economy are becoming a regular topic in media, both in China and abroad. Several media outlets overseas have already speculated that China is struggling to meet 2015's growth target of 7 percent.
"The public should not panic because a revised GDP growth is often slightly lower," Zhang Yiping, an analyst at China Merchants Securities, told the Global Times on Monday.
Though a slight drop, it is still an indicator that China's economy is facing downward pressure, according to Zhang. He noted that more efforts should be made in order to reach the 7 percent 2015 growth target.
The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planning body, has claimed that the government "will be able to achieve its annual economic growth target."
Over the weekend, the Xinhua News Agency reported that Zhou Xiaochuan, head of the central bank, said that the corrective process in the stock market is in place, with a more stable financial market to be expected.
Zhou added that the government has introduced a set of policies to curb the plunge of the economy, like central bank liquidity.
According to the NBS announcement on Monday, the GDP in 2014 totaled 63.614 trillion yuan ($10 trillion). It has dropped 32.4 billion yuan since its initial estimate in Jan. 2015.
The change is less than 0.1 percent of China's overall GDP. NBS claims that the number could be revised again in Jan. 2016 when the bureau releases its final results.
The industry blamed for the slight drop has been the service industry, which the agency said grew by 7.8 percent rather than 8.1 percent.
According to Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei, the Chinese government does not focus on short-term economic fluctuations and that China will continue to implement policies to maintain price stability and support the growth in the job market.
Lou added that the government will not make any major policy adjustments over a slight change in one economic indicator.
