GUIYANG, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The southwestern Chinese mountainous province of Guizhou continued to report one of the fastest economic growth rates nationwide last year.

Its GDP expanded at an annual pace of 9.1 percent to over 1.48 trillion yuan (217 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, Xiao Yunhui, director of the provincial statistics bureau, told a press briefing Tuesday. The rate was 2.5 percentage points higher than the national GDP growth.

Guizhou's economic growth has been among the top three fastest in the country for eight consecutive years, said Xiao.

The strong growth momentum, optimized economic structure and improved quality and efficiency continued to lay a solid foundation for quality economic growth, she said.