China’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter, official data show. Officials suggest stimulus measures have started to kick in.

Economic growth for the April to June period beat some analysts’ forecasts that it would a dip below 7 percent. The rate of year-on-year quarterly expansion remains unchanged from the 7 percent seen in the first quarter, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics announced on Wednesday.

“With the policies and measures taken by the Central Party Committee and the State Council, the major indicators of the second quarter showed that growth was stabilised and is ready to pick up,” the statistics bureau said in a statement accompanying the result.

“The economy developed with positive changes, and the vitality of economic development was strengthened,” the bureau added.

The economy grew 1.7 percent quarter-on-quarter in the April-June period, compared with a 1.4-percent hike quarter-on-quarter in the first three months, it added.

Concerns about missing the official target of a 7-percent growth in the economy for 2015 has prompted the Chinese Government to take some specific policy measures, analysts have said. China’s central bank has cut interest rates on base lending four times since November; to spur capital liquidity in support of the economy.

The statistics bureau also announced on Wednesday that industrial output in China increased 6.8 percent year-on-year in June, quickening from a rise of 6.1 percent in May. Retail sales also expanded 10.6 percent from the previous year in June, up from 10.1 percent in May.