BEIJING, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The world's economy will maintain a sound growth in 2006, stimulated by factors including internal impetus, sound macro-economy, lax financial policies and booming world trade, said a Chinese economist on Wednesday.

   ; Yao Jingyuan, the chief economist of China's National Bureau of Statistics said at a forum on the petroleum and chemical industry that the consumer confidence index and economic index are rising in major countries around the world, showing the internal impetus of the world's economy is strengthening.

    Yao said that the two indexes reached a record high last year in the United States and the best record for Europe since May 2003, while that of Japan also showed an upward trend.

    He said that the macro-economy in the world currently features high growth, low inflation and unemployment, noting that the inflation rate is expected to fall to 2.6 percent this year from 2.7 percent in 2005, according to predictions of most research institutions.

    Statistics show that the growth rate of the world's economy stood at 3.2 percent last year and the inflation rate stood at 2.7 percent.

    "The climbing trend of the economy in those major countries will last until the first half of this year," said Yao.

    As from 2000, the active financial policies, adopted by major countries, have contributed a lot to the economic growth of the world, Yao said.

    With the easing of inflation pressure, these countries will stick to their financial policies and are not likely to increase their interest rates this year, Yao predicted.

    In 2006, world trade is expected to rise by 7.4 percent, 0.4 percent higher than that of 2005, he said, adding that the amount of international investments will rise further.

    Yao also listed negative aspects affecting the world's economy this year, citing the possible drop of consumption expenditure in those major countries, oil supply tension and imbalance of international trade. Enditem