Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    BEIJING, March 1 -- China's television set production growth rate is expected to drop by two to 4 percent year-on-year in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis.

    However the industry is forecast to continue growing- just at a slower pace, according to a forecast by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) released Friday.

    An official with MIIT says quote "The situation for the industry is not optimistic. But thanks to policies to boost domestic demand, the market will maintain slow growth,"- end quote.

    More than 90 million TV sets were produced in China last year, up 6.5 percent from a year earlier. The increase is partly attributed to the Beijing Olympic Games and digital TV promotion.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Beijing.

    (Source: XHTV)