China's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 24.66 trillion yuan ($3.43 trillion) in 2007, up 11.4 percent year on year, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Thursday.

The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than the 2006 level revised at 11.1 percent.

It was the fifth consecutive year in which the nation's GDP grew at a pace of more than 10 percent, NBS head Xie Fuzhan told a press conference held here.

The growth was also a record high over the past 13 years, observers said.

The GDP growth rate was 11.1 percent in the first quarter, 11.9 percent in the second quarter, 11.5 percent in the third quarter and 11.2 percent in the fourth.

Xie said both the United States and China had served as powerful engines for the current cycle of global economic growth. The mounting possibility for the US economy to plunge into recession is bound to have negative effect on the world economy.

However, Xie showed confidence in China's economic growth, saying the growth will be "steady" this year.

Xie said: "We will keep a close watch on developments in the US economy on one hand. On the other hand, we'll be striving to address institutional and structural problems in the Chinese economy."

He said there was still a risk that China's economy could shift from rapid growth to overheating this year, with growing inflationary pressure. To avert this, the central government had adopted a tight monetary policy in tandem with a prudent fiscal policy for 2008.

The NBS also reported that in 2007, primary industry output was 2.89 trillion yuan, up 3.7 percent, while that of the secondary sector was 12.14 trillion yuan, up 13.4 percent, and the tertiary sector, 9.63 trillion yuan, up 11.4 percent.