Mr Steel explained that the government had "convened people here" (at the Treasury) to understand how the market was thinking, and was supportive of the private sector plan that emerged from that meeting.

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Paul Cavey, an economist at Macquarie Securities, argues that the discrepancy is explained by the fact that energy-guzzling heavy industries, such as steel and aluminium, bore the brunt of the slowdown last year.

ECONOMIST: Is China overstating its true rate of growth?