China's?"new normal" economy, although growing at a slower pace, actually added value last year as more jobs were created, inflation was under control, and trade rose, said a senior official at the National Bureau of Statistics yesterday.

"China's economic growth neither lost momentum nor changed to a wrong gear," Xie Hongguang, deputy director at the bureau, said in a report summarizing the economic performance in 2014.

China's gross domestic product grew 7.4 percent from a year earlier to 63.6 trillion yuan (US$10.2 trillion) in 2014. The growth pace was the slowest in 24 years, signaling that the economy was entering a "new normal" state.

However, the new normal did not mean slow growth but medium to high growth with more diversified drivers, Xie said.

"China's economic restructuring was accelerating, with gears changing from investment and exports to consumption," Xie said.

Last year, 13.22 million jobs were created in the country amid a decelerating economy. The jobs created beat the target of creating 10 million jobs.

Inflation was under control at 2 percent while trade rose 2.3 percent against sluggish external demand.

"China's economic fundamentals remained healthy," Xie said, adding that the growth was more sustainable even as reform continued.