CHINA’S economy is likely to have grown 7 percent in 2015, in line with the government’s target, the National Development and Reform Commission said yesterday.

“China’s economic performance has been relatively stable,” said Li Pumin, a spokesman for the top economic planning agency.

“It is based on China’s more targeted policy adjustment, increasing innovation, faster industrial restructuring, deepening reforms and the efforts to improve people’s livelihoods,” Li told a press conference.

China’s gross domestic product grew 6.9 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter of last year, following the pace of 7 percent in both the first three months and the second quarter.

Although the pace slowed from the increase of 7.3 percent in 2014 to become the weakest in six years, China is expected to have created 13 million new jobs in 2015, better than the official target of 10 million, and with inflation tame at 1.4 percent.

“China’s economic structure has been further improved as the growth is led increasingly by innovation and technology,” Li said.

He also announced several new infrastructure projects, most of them in the remote western areas, to prevent a sharper slowdown.

Last year, China rolled out its 2025 Manufacturing Plan, or a blueprint for the development of the manufacturing sector in the next decade, with the focus on innovation and technology.

Meanwhile, the country accelerated its opening-up policies by implementing the “One Belt, One Road,” initiative to renew its business ties with Eurasian countries.

In the second half of last year, the country also waged a massive campaign to encourage people to start up their own businesses.

China still has room to ease monetary policies as inflation growth moderated to a six-year low of 1.4 percent in 2015, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. It was much lower than the government target of keeping it below 3 percent.

Earlier data also indicated further stabilization in China’s economy.

The official Purchasing Managers’ Index, a comprehensive gauge reflecting operational conditions in largely state-owned manufacturing companies, rose 0.1 points from a month earlier to 49.7 in December.

The official non-manufacturing PMI, a counterpart for the services sector, improved to 54.4 last month, the highest in more than one year.

Wang Tao, a UBS economist, said the economy may see flat growth this year and forecast a growth rate of 6.2 percent.