China's economy is expected to pick up, but "arduous efforts" are needed to sustain the recovery in growth due to an adverse external environment and the global economy's loss of momentum, the top state planner said on Friday.

The comments came after release of worse-than-expected economic activity data for November.

"With the implementation of optimised measures of Covid-19 prevention and control, while policies to stabilise the economy gradually take effect, China's economic growth is expected to continue picking up," said a statement by a spokesperson at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

"At the same time, we are aware that the economy is facing a more complex and severe external environment, and weakened growth momentum for the global economy," the spokesperson said.

"We need to make arduous efforts to promote sustained economic recovery," they added.

China will work on stabilising growth, employment and prices while speeding up construction of infrastructure projects and expanding effective investment, the statement said.

As investment in the property sector slumped significantly, the NDRC said the infrastructure and manufacturing sectors shored up fixed asset investment growth with their capital formation accounting for 26.7% of the mainland’s economic growth in the first three quarters.

As of November, the NDRC said it had approved 106 major projects, worth about 1.5 trillion yuan in total.

As the Lunar New Year holiday season approaches, the state planner vowed to release state pork reserves in a timely manner in order to keep prices stable. (Reuters)