China's top statistician says the economy was stable in April as structural changes continued to deepen.

The Chinese economy did not do well in April. Growth in industrial output, investments and consumption all trailed March's numbers and missed expectations. But the National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday that the fluctuation was mild when accounting for last year's large base.

Structural changes continued in China as consumption's contribution to the economy rose 22 percentage points year on year to 84.7 percent in the first quarter. Producer prices have also began to reverse their downward trend.

"Our view is that the national economy is running smoothly, the structure continued to optimize and the quality of people's livelihood has been raised," said Sheng Laiyun, spokesman of National Bureau of Statistics.

Sheng also acknowledged downward pressure from home and abroad, but said China's economy is resilient enough to sustain growth.

Sheng also said, "China is still going through urbanization, and the consumption sector is still in a critical phase of structural upgrade. Old growth drivers are waning but new ones are emerging quickly. Therefore the economy should be able to maintain a mid to high speed growth rate as long as the government keeps pushing supply-side reforms."

The NBS said China had made great progress in its supply-side reform. That includes the phasing out of overcapacity in the coal and steel sectors. The housing sector also is reducing its excessive inventory.

However, experts are urging caution in the real estate market. That's because investments have been increasing recently, posing new challenges for the government to control inventories.