China says its economy slowed in the second quarter of 2010, as the government imposed stricter monetary policies to prevent overheating.
The government's National Bureau of Statistics says the country's gross domestic product grew by 10.3 percent in the period between April and June. The figures were a steep drop from the blistering 11.9 percent growth in the first quarter of the year.
Beijing enacted a number of measures last year to guide the world's third-largest economy through the global recession, including a $586 billion stimulus package and increased bank lending.
Bureau spokesman Sheng Laiyun told reporters in Beijing an "appropriate" slowing down of the economic growth rate will prevent the economy from growing too quickly, which policymakers fear could trigger inflation.
Consumer inflation fell to 2.9 percent in June, from 3.1 percent in May, slightly below the government's official target for 2010 of 3 percent.
Despite the slowdown, China remains poised to overtake Japan as the world's second-largest economy behind the United States.
