Employees work on the production line of a television factory under Zhaochi Group in Shenzhen, China August 8, 2019.

China said Friday its economy grew by 6.1% in 2019, meeting expectations even amid a trade dispute with the U.S.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected China's economy to have grown 6.1% in 2019, compared with 6.6% in 2018.

Still, China's GDP growth last year was the slowest since 1990, according to Reuters records.

Although Beijing's official GDP figures are tracked as an indicator of the health of the world's second-largest economy, many outside experts have long expressed skepticism about the veracity of China's reports.

Beijing's official growth target for 2019 was 6% to 6.5%, but Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said on Wednesday that GDP growth in 2019 was estimated to have grown more than 6%, Reuters reported.