China GDP rises 7.9 pct on year - report

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy grew by 7.9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the Beijing Times newspaper said on Thursday, citing an unnamed official.

The economy grew 7.1 percent on the year in the first half, the newspaper said.

Similar rumours of a 7.1 percent pace of growth for the first half circulated in local financial markets on Wednesday.

The National Bureau of Statistics is due to release GDP data later on Thursday at 3 a.m. British time.

The median forecast of economists polled by Reuters is for second-quarter growth of 7.5 percent from a year earlier.

The Beijing Times also reported that the consumer price index was down more than 1 percent in the 12 months to June, while the producer price index fell more than 6 percent.

The median market forecast is for declines of 1.3 percent and 7.5 percent respectively.

(Reporting by Lucy Hornby and Zhou Xin; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)