China’s economy remained stable in the first two months of this year despite some lacklustre economic data, noted Ning Jizhe, head of the National Bureau of Statistics of China, speaking on Monday.

Supply-side structural reform had made considerable progress so far this year, with rising investments in high-tech sectors, the newspaper China Daily quoted him saying.

“China’s economic growth was stable in the first two months, while showing positive change,” he said. “Consumption has increased at a stable 10.2 percent [so far this year], showing a clear trend of consumption-driven economic growth.”

His comments came as China’s total trade plunged 12.6 percent year-on-year in the first two months of this year in yuan terms.

“It is normal [unremarkable] that foreign trade data in the first two months of this year took a plunge,” said the Chinese Commerce Minister, Gao Hucheng, in comments on Monday. “Global trade volume fell around the same time; and China’s Spring Festival [which fell in early February this year] was also a factor”, he added.