China says on track to hit 2018 GDP growth target, faces more uncertainties next year

BEIJING (Reuters) - China is on track to hit its 2018 GDP growth target of around 6.5 percent, but the economy faces more external uncertainties next year, a spokesman of China's statistics bureau said on Friday.

Weaker industrial output and retail sales growth in November showed that downward pressure on economy is increasing, the bureau's spokesman Mao Shengyong said.

The impact on China's economy from Sino-U.S trade frictions is not obvious yet, Mao said.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao and Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)