China says consumption, investment drove H1 growth

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economic growth in the first half of 2012 was fuelled mainly by domestic consumption and capital spending with exports a net drag on performance, the statistics bureau said on Friday.

Consumption contributed 4.5 percentage points to the first half growth rate of 7.8 percent and capital spending added 3.9 percentage points, while exports cut 0.6 percentage points from total growth, statistics bureau spokesman, Sheng Laiyun, told a news conference.

China's economy grew 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 2012 from a year earlier, its slowest pace in three years, confirming expectations of a downward trajectory that leaves full-year growth on course for its softest showing since 1999.

The GDP number released on Friday, which was in line with a Reuters poll, marked the sixth straight quarter of easing growth and left analysts combing a raft of accompanying data to assess whether the second quarter marks the bottom - or an extension - of the downward cycle.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Nick Edwards)