"Last year was the most difficult for the economy in the new century," said Ma Jiantang. "Thanks to government efforts to deal with difficulties, the economy ended an accelerating slide and began to recover."

Ma attributed the recovery mainly to the implementation of the proactive fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy, as well as the government stimulus package to cope with the global financial crisis.

He described the country's economic development last year as a "harvest," saying the newly released figures confirmed a V-shaped recovery.

Since November 2008, the government has adopted a series of stimulus measures, including a 4-trillion yuan stimulus package, tax cuts, and consumer subsidies to shore up growth and employment.

An important component of the stimulus package was the revitalization scheme for 10 major industries, including steel, car making, textiles and machinery, to which the government devoted huge investment.

It also put forward preferential policies to encourage sales of home appliances, cars and motorbikes in rural areas. More government investment came to infrastructure, scientific research and public services.

Meanwhile, the government shifted from a tight monetary policy in 2008 to the moderately easy monetary policy in 2009 to help the national economy counter adverse impacts of the financial crisis.

Figures from the People's Bank of China, the central bank, showed new yuan-denominated lending last year hit a record 9.59 trillion yuan, almost double that of the previous year.