China GDP growth slows to 6.7% in first quarter: govt

China's economy grew 6.7 percent in the three months of 2016, its slowest quarterly expansion in seven years, the government said Friday, but indicators for March improved. The figure released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) matched the median forecast of economists polled by AFP before the release, and was within the government's target of 6.5-7.0 percent for the year. The economy saw "sound development" in the first quarter, NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun said, adding that the figures s