BEIJING - The top leadership on Thursday deemed that China's economic growth in the first quarter was conforming to expectations amid downward pressure on the economy, pledging to maintain continuity and stability of macro policies to ensure growth stay within a proper range.

China will step up targeted control measures, and timely pre-tune and fine-tune policies to combat the downward pressure, said a statement released after a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, chaired by General Secretary Xi Jinping.

The statement said that there appeared new growth impetus in the Chinese economy in the first quarter.