China's economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter, easing fears of a hard landing and strengthening Beijing's resolve to fight persistently high inflation, Reuters reported. China's statistics office said on Wednesday that stabilising prices remained the top priority, even though a "complex and volatile" global economy posed a threat to growth, complicating the policy choices. Second-quarter gross domestic product rose 9.5 percent from a year earlier, exceeding economists' forecasts for 9.4 percent growth, helped by solid domestic consumption and investment. But that was still the slowest pace since the third quarter of 2009, when the world economy was pulling out of its worst recession in 80 years.
