BEIJING — China’s impact on lately turmoil in global financial markets is hyped, a senior economic official said on March 6 on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session.

“There was a rumor that China’s stock and foreign exchange markets’ turbulence in January contributed to the chaos in the United States and Europe,” said Xu Shaoshi, who heads the National Development and Reform Commission.

“China is unable to produce such a spillover,” Xu said.

From February 8 through 12, big drops were witnessed in US and European stock markets, as well as bulk commodities such as crude oil, but Chinese were celebrating Spring Festival while the financial markets were being closed, Xu said.

China accounted for a quarter of the world’s economic growth in 2014, Xu said, citing data from the World Bank and China’s National Bureau of Statistics.