"In the past three quarters, improvements have been made in both economic structure and growth quality, and new growth engines are gaining steam," Xing said.
The service sector expanded 7.8 percent year on year in the first three quarters, outpacing a 3.7-percent increase in the primary industry and 6.3 percent in secondary industry, according to the NBS.
Driven by government efforts in economic structural adjustment, the contribution of final consumption to economic growth reached 64.5 percent in the first nine months, up 2.8 percentage points from a year ago.
In his report, Xi stressed the development of the real economy and encouraged industries to move up to the medium-high end of the global value chain.
In the first three quarters, high-tech and equipment manufacturing sectors posted stellar growth, with output up 13.4 percent and 11.6 percent respectively.
Investment also poured into high-tech sectors. For the first nine months, high-tech manufacturing saw investment up by 18.4 percent, up from 11.7 percent during the same period in 2016.
STRONG OUTLOOK
"The fresh data has pointed to resilient growth momentum, especially considering the dampening effect on output and demand from China's environmental protection-related production cuts," Beijing-based investment bank CICC said in a report.
The bank said it remained constructive on China's growth and expected strong consumption growth and resilient investment growth in the fourth quarter and beyond.
Prior to the data release, major international institutions and investment banks, including the IMF and the World Bank, had already raised their forecasts for China's growth this year.
In a report released earlier this month, the IMF raised its forecast for China growth for the fourth time this year, predicting that China's economy will grow 6.8 percent this year and 6.5 percent next year, both 0.1 percentage point higher than previous forecasts.
However, Xing warned that given the still complicated and changing international environment, and that the Chinese economy was still going through a period of structural shifts, more effort was needed to consolidate the positive trend.
In line with recent policy initiatives, economists say they believe China's supply-side structural reform and tough environmental rules will continue, which might dampen growth in the short term but benefit long-term economic health.
"There are signs that underlying demand is still holding up well," said Julia Wang, HSBC economist.
She said the manufacturing sector was on the cusp of a more structural revival in the next two to four years, and the recovery trend in the Chinese economy should continue in 2018.
