"China's GDP growth in the third quarter of 2020 was 4.9%," NBS said in its report. The figure exceeded expectations, with experts having predicted a growth of around 5.2 percent.
According to Monday data from the NBS, the Chinese economy grew 0.7 percent in the first three quarters of 2020.
"According to preliminary estimates, China's annual GDP in the first three quarters of 2020 amounted to 72.278 trillion yuan [about $10.78 trillion], an increase of 0.7% as compared to the same period last year," NBS said in its report.
In July, the statistics bureau said China's GDP had risen by 3.2 percent in the second quarter of the year.
However, the Chinese economy decreased by 6.8 percent year-to-year in the first quarter of 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the difficult situation, the Chinese government decided to abandon its usual practice of setting goals on GDP growth this year.
Last month, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) revised its forecast for China's 2020 GDP dynamics, expecting a growth of 1.8 percent. The OECD also revised its forecast for 2021, expecting the world's second-largest economy to grow by 8 percent next year.