* Q1 GDP growth eases to 6.7 pct y/y, meets forecasts
* Other economic activity data better than expected
* Recovery seen in 'old economy' indicators
* Policymakers may be moving to old stimulus strategy - analysts
By Kevin Yao and Sue-Lin Wong
BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) - China posted its slowest economic growth since 2009 but a surge of new debt appears to be fueling a recovery in factory activity, investment and household spending in the world's second largest economy.
That's good news in the near-term, economists say, but many worry it marks a return to the old playbook used during the financial crisis, when Beijing hand-cranked its economy out of a slowdown through massive stimulus.
Official data on Friday showed China's gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 6.7 percent in the first quarter of the year, easing slightly from 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter as expected. However, other indicators released showed new loans, retail sales, industrial output and fixed asset investment were all better than forecast.
While analysts say the data is evidence of a bottoming out in the economy's slowdown, some warn that the first quarter of 2015 got off to a similarly glowing start before a stock market crash later that year.
"What this shows is a stabilisation of the old economy," said Raymond Yeung of ANZ, pointing to recovery in industrial production and fixed asset investment.
"I would still be a bit cautious about headline growth... last year's 6.9 percent figure was underpinned by a massive contribution from financial services, and the strong loan and credit growth recently and the recent resumption of IPO activity suggests this could still be a big contribution."
The National Bureau of Statistics said in a press conference in Beijing on Friday that while main economic indicators showed positive changes, "downward pressure cannot be underestimated."
Global and domestic financial markets took the data in their stride. The NBS did not distribute quarterly GDP figures as it has in the past, saying it needed more time to calculate the figure.
RECOVERING DEMAND
Beijing hopes a recovery - even a credit-fueled one - can be sustained to avoid the need for more aggressive stimulus that could reinflate asset bubbles and make it more difficult to retrain Chinese firms to move up the value chain.
Chinese banks extended 1.37 trillion yuan ($211.23 billion) in net new yuan loans in March, nearly double the previous month's lending of 726.6 billion yuan, suggesting renewed appetite for investment among wary Chinese corporates.