BEIJING, July 16 (Reuters) - China's economy grew by 7.9 percent year on year in the second quarter, a local newspaper, the Beijing Times, said on Thursday, citing an unnamed official.
The economy grew 7.1 percent on the year in the first half, it said.
China's National Bureau of Statistics is due to release GDP data later on Thursday morning.
(Reporting by Lucy Hornby and Zhou Xin; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)