China's economy grew by 8 per cent in 2002 from the previous year and is expected to grow by about 7 per cent this year, China's bureau of statistics announced today.
"In 2002, the gross domestic product topped 10 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion), growth in 2001 was 7.3 per cent".
Economists have attributed China's fast growth to brisk exports and large-scale government spending. China has been the world's fastest-growing major economy for several years and is likely to remain so in 2003.
The OECD has forecast 7.5 per cent growth for China in 2003. It also predicts 6.9 per cent growth in 2004. China's foreign trade volume in 2002 reached $620.8 billion, up 21.8 per cent over the previous year with exports rising by 22.3 per cent.
China officially set its fixed-assets investment target at 10 per cent growth in 2002 and next week is expected to announce a 12 per cent growth target in investment for this year.
AFP