Falling Exports Hurt China's Growth

China's official annual economic growth rate slowed to 6.1 per cent for the first quarter of the year, slightly below most economists' expectations of about 6.5 per cent.

It is the slowest growth rate since the Chinese Government began releasing official gross domestic product figures in 1992.

A sharp slump in exports is being blamed for the slowdown, but officials say there was an uptick in economic activity toward the end of the quarter as the government's stimulus package began to kick in.

But today's figures show China is well behind on its target growth rate of 8 per cent.

By Tom Iggulden in Beijing for ABC Australia.