Official figures show gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's second largest economy rose by 3% in 2022, reports BBC.

This is below the government's estimated 5.5 percent target.

Beijing, which was following a strict zero-COVID policy, lifted it abruptly recently.

The policy had a major impact on the country's economic activity last year but the sudden relaxation of the rules has led to a jump in Covid cases that threatens to also drag on growth in the early part of this year, the British media reported.

Other than at the start of the pandemic in 2020, when full-year GDP expanded 2.2%, last year's economic growth was the weakest since 1976, BBC reported.