BEIJING (REUTERS) - China's economy is on track to meet the official growth target for 2017, the head of the state planning agency said on Saturday.

"We expect to achieve the full-year growth target of about 6.5 per cent," Mr He Lifeng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a briefing on the sidelines of China's Communist Party Congress.

Most economists believe China's actual growth should easily beat the target. The economy grew 6.8 per cent in the third quarter of the year, and 6.9 per cent in the first half. Last year's growth rate of 6.7 per cent was a 26-year low.

China's economy has surprised global markets and investors with robust growth so far this year, driven by stronger demand from Europe and the United States and a renaissance in long-ailing "smokestack" industries such as steel.

The world's second-largest economy has been undergoing a restructuring process designed to "upgrade" its heavy industrial economy, cut pollution and tackle profit-sapping capacity gluts in sectors like steel and coal.

Mr He said China cut annual crude steel capacity by as much as 110 million tonnes over the last five years, with coal capacity slashed by as much as 400 million tonnes.

The state had to find new jobs for as many as 1.1 million workers from the two industries over the period, he said.

China promised last year to cut steel capacity by as much as 150 million tonnes over the 2016-2020 period, with coal set to shed another 500 million tonnes of annual output capacity.

China was also on track to meet its target to find 13 million new urban jobs over the course of this year, Mr He said.

Mr Zhang Yong, the vice-head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said China will introduce measures aimed at guiding private investment into areas that have a higher growth potential.

He added that China also would take steps to lower the investment threshold for private investors.

The manufacturing industry as well as the property market, which have been driving private investment, are now quite weak, Zhang said.

"Now we want to attract investment in sectors with growth potential such as subway projects."