China's economy grew 7.4 per cent year-on-year in the July-September quarter of 2012, missing the government's target for the first time since first quarter of 2009, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Thursday.

The GDP growth figure for the July-September quarter represents a continuing slowdown in the economy, from 7.6 per cent in the second quarter and 8.1 per cent in the first of current year. It was the seven quarter in a row to report decline in GDP growth.

The third-quarter growth figure is in the in line with projections from economists polled by Reuters, but it also marks the first miss of the government target since the first quarter of 2009's 6.5 per cent.

The country's total GDP reached 35.35 trillion Yuan (US$ 5.61 trillion) in the first three quarters of current year.

Commenting on the figures, NBS spokesperson Sheng Laiun said, "GDP grew 7.7 per cent in the first three quarters, and the economy is generally stable. Compared with the first half, we have seen some improvements in the third quarter."

Zhu Haibin, chief China economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co., also said that Chinese economy was performing better than expected.

While GDP growth rate of 7.4 per cent is not that bad, it signifies a sharp slowdown in the economy. In 2011, the Chinese GDP grew 9.2 per cent and has averaged an annual rate close to 10 per cent for three decades.