China's GDP expanded 7.8 percent in the third quarter of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

The world's second largest economy grew 7.7 percent in the first quarter and the pace slowed to 7.5 percent in the second quarter.

The first nine months of this year saw China's GDP rise 7.7 percent, according to the bureau.

"This falls within our expectation," said Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC Holdings Plc. "The growth reflected the effect of the pro-growth measures taken by the central government since July."

Tang Jianwei, senior economist with Bank of Communications, agreed that the pickup in GDP growth is a result of the pro-growth measures adopted and the improvement of the foreign trade situation.

Looking into the specific sectors, fix-asset investment has stayed stable compared with that of the first half of the year, while the consumption sector improved, according to Tang.

Qu said investment kept a steady growth rate because the due investment projects were finished on time and investment in real estate delivered robust growth.

Both Qu and Tang forecast the growth momentum will continue in the fourth quarter, but that the growth rate would dip slightly as the growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 was strong, offering a high comparison base. Tang predicted the growth rate in the fourth quarter would dip to 7.5 to 7.6 percent.