Economy maintains growth momentum

China's economy maintained strong growth momentum in April, with gauges of consumption and services gathering pace, improving the outlook for steady growth of the world's second-largest economy this year, officials and analysts said.

The foundation for the steady growth, however, is still not solid as internal drivers are not strong enough and demand is still insufficient. Greater support should be given to bolstering demand, spurring investment and anchoring expectations, they added.

Retail sales of consumer goods — a major gauge of consumption — rose 18.4 percent year-on-year to 3.49 trillion yuan ($501 billion) in April, and expanded by 7.8 percentage points from the level in March, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday.