Thanks to consumption upgrading and better development quality, China’s economy maintained a positive momentum amid stable growth in the first two months of this year, the National Statistics Bureau (NBS) said on March 14, showing confidence that China will meet the 6.5 percent growth goal for 2018.

China saw 9.7 percent of growth in retail sales of consumer goods to 6.1 trillion yuan ($965 billion) in January and February, according to official data from NBS.

Sales in rural areas went up 10.7 percent, outpacing the 9.6 percent rate in urban areas.

Meanwhile, online spending continued to surge with 37 percent year-on-year growth to reach 1.2 trillion yuan.

In the breakdown, consumption upgrading is led by purchase of cosmetics, smart home appliances and automobiles.

Benefiting from China’s supply-side reform, more new industries are booming, leading by 25 percent of industrial robots and more than 178 percent of new energy vehicles.

Considering the positive performance in January and February and fast growth of the service industry, which strongly supports employment, Mao Shengyong, spokesperson for the NBS, said on March 14 that there should be confidence in achieving the 6.5-percent growth target for 2018.

“I believe it’s on track for continual growth. We will meet the 6.5-percent GDP growth rate target set for this year on such grounds. And stable growth at this level will in turn contribute to employment and better livelihood for all,” he said.