BEIJING — China's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 12.7 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2021 as recovery continues to firm, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on July 15.

The figure puts average H1 growth for the past two years at 5.3 percent, 0.3 percentage points faster than the two-year average of Q1 growth from the 2019 level, according to the NBS.

In the second quarter, the country's GDP grew 7.9 percent year-on-year, the data showed. On a quarterly basis, the economy increased 1.3 percent in Q2.

Other major economic indicators showed continued improvements across the board, with industrial output rising 15.9 percent and retail sales up 23 percent year-on-year in the first half.

The country's surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5 percent in June, 0.7 percentage points lower than the same period last year. A total of 6.98 million new urban jobs, or 63.5 percent of the annual target, were created in the first half.

In the six-month period, China's per capita disposable income increased 12.6 percent year-on-year in nominal terms to 17,642 yuan (about $2,731), basically keeping pace with the GDP increase.

In the first quarter of 2021, the Chinese economy grew 18.3 percent year-on-year as strong domestic and foreign demands powered recovery from a low base in early 2020 when COVID-19 stalled the world's second-largest economy.

"The national economy has, in general, sustained a steady recovery in the first half," said Liu Aihua, a spokesperson with the NBS.

Liu, however, cautioned of uncertainties stemming from the global spread of the pandemic and the unbalanced recovery domestically.

But considering the supply-demand cycle, market confidence and the increasingly strong domestic demand, China's economy is expected to maintain the recovery trend in the second half of 2021, Liu added.

China has aimed for an economic expansion of over 6 percent in 2021. It also aims to create more than 11 million new urban jobs and expand domestic demand and effective investment, which are expected to put the economy firmly back to pre-pandemic vibrancy.

The World Bank, in a report last month, forecast that China's economic growth will be at 8.5 percent in 2021.

China's recovery has broadened as its economic activities have continued to normalize under the country's effective containment of COVID-19, the report noted.