Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao says his nation's economy was “relatively good” in the past three months and Beijing now expects to achieve its goal of 7.5 percent growth this year.

The growth of China's economy, the world's second largest after the United States, has been slowing over the past year and a half. But in comments posted Wednesday on the central government's website, Mr. Wen said he is confident China's economy is stabilizing and will continue to show “positive changes.”

China's economy grew by 7.6 percent in the April-to-June period, the slowest advance in more than three years. China is set to release economic data for the third quarter on Thursday and some economists say they expect the pace of the country's growth to dip further, for the seventh-straight quarter.

The Chinese leader said the country's economic growth, much of it based on exports, “still faces considerable difficulty” in the last three months of the year.

Mr. Wen said it is “extremely difficult to expand external demand,” an apparent reference to Europe's stagnant economy and sluggish growth in the United States.