WASHINGTON, June 25 (Xinhua) -- S&P Global Ratings on Friday affirmed China's ratings at A+/A-1 with a stable outlook, according to a report from Reuters.

Workers weld at a workshop of an automobile manufacturing enterprise in Qingzhou City, east China's Shandong Province, Feb. 28, 2021. (Photo by Wang Jilin/Xinhua)

China was likely to maintain above-average economic growth relative to other middle-income economies in the next few years, Reuters reported.

"This is in part due to its effective containment of the COVID-19 pandemic and rapid vaccine rollout," S&P said in a note on Friday.

"We expect real GDP growth to come in at 8.3 percent this year, before moderating to about 5 percent from 2022-2024," the note added, according to Reuters.