China’s economy is still operating within a steady and reasonable range, despite July’s sluggish growth in export, investment and industry, a senior official from the national economic planner said on Sept 1.

“The decrease in export was due to growth in developed economies, which weakened the driving effect on China’s export, combined with the declining growth in emerging economies and the higher comparison base in the year-earlier period,” said Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission.

“The slowdown in investment had something to do with a seasonal reduction in summer. Along with the rebound in real estate transactions and the improvement in funding conditions of infrastructure, the growth in investment is expected to be stable,” Ning said.

He said the drop in growth rate in the automobile industry and the reduced output in some energy-intensive industries led to a slower increase in industrial added value.

“The Chinese economy is maintaining a high growth rate and steering toward a medium-high level, which features optimized structures and newly cultivated driving forces,” Ning said.

According to the official, the Chinese government will adopt more accurate and targeted adjustment measures to ease the pressures from the economic downturn and further stimulate innovation.