BEIJING (Bloomberg) — China's economic growth in the fourth quarter will exceed the 8.9 percent of the preceding three months, Xu Xianchun, deputy head of the National Bureau of Statistics, told an economic seminar in Beijing yesterday.

China's economic rebound this year, driven by stimulus spending, record bank lending and subsidies for consumer purchases, has aided companies from General Motors Co. to Volkswagen AG as car sales soar. Economic growth last quarter was the fastest pace in a year.

The world's third-biggest economy is targeting eight percent growth in 2010 amid a "fragile" global recovery, industry minister Li Yizhong said this week. China has officially aimed for eight percent growth in gross domestic product each year from 2005 and is yet to come up short.

Xu said it was public consensus that the mainland would have no problem achieving growth of more than eight percent this year. Next year, growth would quicken further, driven by domestic demand, restocking and property investment.

While for the year, inflation will probably come in at less than zero, expectations of prices picking up are building, Xu said. The government "needs to ensure the economic rebound is steady and properly manage inflation expectations in order to maintain overall price stability."

A record 9.2 trillion yuan ($1.3 trillion) of loans in the first 11 months of this year has added to the risk of asset bubbles and resurgent inflation. China's cabinet pledged last week to tackle "excessive" gains in property prices in some cities and economic planners reassured the country that inflation would stay in check.

Consumer prices climbed 0.6 percent in November from a year earlier, snapping a nine-month run of deflation. Industrial output grew more than expected and exports fell the least in 13 months, government data show.