BEIJING - Although China's growth rate for 2013 stayed at the same level as a year earlier, its economic structure optimized and growth quality improved, an analyst with the statistics authority said Tuesday.

"In evaluating economic development, we should not only look at speed, but more importantly should pay attention to growth quality, Guo Tongxin was cited as saying by a National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) statement.

China's economy expanded by 7.7 percent last year, the same as 2012, overshooting the government target of 7.5 percent, the NBS said Monday.

Last year, the country's economic structure optimized and quality and efficiency steadily strengthened, Guo said.

China's grain output rose for a 10th consecutive year in 2013, further consolidating the fundamental role of agriculture. Meanwhile, the value-added output of the service sector exceeded that of the industrial sector for the first time, he said.

Adding to the evidences of better structure and growth quality, the output of high-tech industries accounted for 9.9 percent in total industrial output, up 0.5 percentage points from a year ago.

The country's labor productivity, or the ratio of gross domestic product to working population, rose 7.3 percent in 2013 from a year earlier, he added.