China: 2008 Growth Forecast at 10.9 Percent

[December 21, 2007]  BEIJING (AP) -- China's economic growth is expected to slow slightly next year to a still robust 10.9 percent, with inflation at 4.5 percent, the central bank's research bureau said in a forecast reported Friday by a government newspaper.

The country's global trade surplus is expected to rise 20 percent next year to U.S. $300 billion (euro 209 billion), said the forecast, reported in the China Securities Journal.

China's economy is expected to expand by more than 11 percent this year, up from annual growth of 10.7 percent in 2006 -- the highest since 1995.

Consumer inflation has picked up and hit a decade-high monthly rate of 6.9 percent in November, far above the official 2007 target of 3 percent.

[Associated Press]

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