China on Thursday said its third-quarter growth accelerated to 8.9 percent — the fastest pace in a year — as the economy powered up an expansion built on a flood of stimulus cash and bank lending. The world’s third-largest economy is on course to meet a government target of 8.0 per cent growth for 2009 — seen as vital to foster job creation and ward off social unrest in the nation of 1.3 billion people.

But analysts said China — a vital cog in the sputtering world economy — must seek broader avenues of growth beyond the hundreds of billions of dollars injected by government this year. The 8.9 percent growth revealed by the National Bureau of Statistics was the fastest quarterly expansion in a year. It followed 7.9 per cent in the second quarter and 6.1 per cent in the first three months, which was the slowest in more than a decade. China’s GDP grew 7.7 per cent in the first nine months of 2009 compared with the same period a year ago, after growing 7.1 per cent in the first half, the data showed.

“We are sure that we can achieve the full year target of eight percent. There is no question about it,” bureau spokesman Li Xiaochao told reporters. But he warned of lingering major challenges in resolving imbalances in the export-driven economy, saying China had entered a “crucial stage” in its quest for stable growth. “The basis of the economic recovery still needs to be consolidated,” Li said.