BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhua) -- China's economy is expected to grow about 8 percent this year, the State Information Center (SIC) said in a report released Thursday.

    The SIC forecast the consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, would decline about 0.5 percent in 2009 from a year earlier, while the producer price index would fall 5 percent year on year.

    The report said imports were predicted to shrink 16 percent and exports by 17.5 percent year on year. The annual trade surplus would reach 220 billion U.S. dollars, down from 295.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2008.

    However, the report said the SIC believed no further stimulus measures beyond the 4-trillion yuan (585.7 billion U.S. dollars) economic stimulus package were necessary.

    The government should focus on enhancing the implementation of the existing stimulus policies and cultivating new areas to boost economic growth, it said.

    China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth was 9 percent in the third quarter last year, then slumped to 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter and to 6.1 percent in the first quarter this year. It is due to release its second-quarter GDP data in mid-July.

IMF says China's economy to grow 7.5% in 2009

    WASHINGTON, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese economy is projected to grow 7.5 percent and 8.5 percent in 2009 and 2010 respectively, both are one percentage point higher than projected in April, according to the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday. Full story

China's business climate index rebounds in Q2

    BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhua) -- China's business climate index, a main measurement of macro-economic outlook, rose by 10.3 points in the second quarter from the previous quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

    The quarterly business climate index climbed from 105.6 in the first quarter this year to 115.9, the NBS said. In the first quarter, the index slipped to 105.6 from 107 at the end of last year. Full story

China's economy sees emerging V-shape recovery

    BEIJING, July 6 -- Faced with a severe economic downturn at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, people are debating intensely the prospects of the Chinese economy. However, there is increasing evidence to indicate that the ongoing recovery is likely to be V-shaped.

    Factual evidence of a strong rebound can be found in China's steel output, electricity production, industrial value added, foreign trade as well as the Shanghai Exchange's A share index which has jumped by 65 percent so far this year. China's surprising pent-up automobile sales amid the global recession shows that no matter how radical a prediction about the Chinese economy is, it still risks being too conservative. Full story

China's economic recovery to be sustainable: economist

    BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Fan Gang, China's renowned economist and central bank advisor, said Wednesday that China's economic recovery is poised to make a U-turn.

    Fan, director of the National Economic Research Institute, made the comment at a financial forum organized by Globe, a biweekly magazine run by Xinhua News Agency. Full story

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