China's Xi: China economic growth to be sustainable, balanced - Xinhua

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Saturday China's economy will maintain strong, sustainable and balanced growth, state media reported.

Xi also said China will provide more demand and investment opportunities for the global economy as it undergoes structural reforms that foster opportunities for growth, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

China's economy grew in the third quarter at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis, sparking concern that the world's second largest economy is faltering as the government tries to make it more driven by domestic consumption and less by exports and investment.

Xi made the comments while at a two-day meeting of the G20 in Brisbane, Australia.

Using his latest catchphrase, Xi said China's economy has entered a "new normal", there is plenty of growth momentum and development prospects are bright, Xinhua reported.

China will also adopt the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Special Data Dissemination Standards, Xi announced.

These standards are applied to the release of economic and financial data, aimed at increasing transparency and openness in order to guide countries "that have, or that might seek, access to international capital markets in the provision of their economic and financial data to the public," according to the IMF website.

China's provinces and regions frequently report economic growth much larger than national levels, causing doubts about the way data is compiled in China.

China's government has vowed to tackle false reporting of economic data at the local level, but the sheer size of the country and the large number of local authorities makes this a daunting task.

(Reporting by Paul Carsten; Additional reporting by Koh Gui Qing; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)