Chinese Economic Growth Continues to Decelerate

China's gross domestic product expanded 7.5% in the April-June quarter from a year earlier, according to the country's National Bureau of Statistics. The economy grew 7.7% in the first three months of 2013.

The latest period marked China's fifth straight quarter of year-over-year growth of less than 8%. The statistics office says the country is faced with a "grim and complicated" economic situation.

But China's GDP expansion is stable at its relatively low level, the agency declares. It predicts the economy will attain the government's full-year target of a 7.5% advance, which would be the smallest gain since 1990. Economists warn that China's shrinking exports and sluggish manufacturing could prevent it from reaching that goal.

In a separate report, the statistics bureau says the country's industrial production rose 8.9% last month from June 2012. That pace matches the rate of output increase at the start of this year, which was the lowest since 2009.

But consumer spending has been a bright spot in China's economy. Retail sales, which climbed 12.9% year over year in May, advanced 13.3% in June, according to the statistics office.