China's economy to achieve growth target
2009-09-19

Category Gross Domestic Product Nations China Category Regions County Nanhui County Metropolitan Beijing Event 2008 China Slowdown Source (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy will be able to achieve a growth target of 8 percent this year, but the country should not rest on its laurels as problems remain, the statistics bureau's top economist was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Yao Jingyuan, chief economist of the National Bureau of Statistics, told a forum in Shanghai that the basis for China's economic recovery was still not stable, and many uncertainties existed.

Authorities have set a target of 8 percent gross domestic product growth this year, something most economists think is in sight since annual growth reached 7.9 percent in the second quarter and appears set to accelerate in year-on-year terms in the second half.

Yao said the 8 percent target will "be difficult but is not a problem," according to a report by the state-run China News Service.

Figures for August showed industrial output, investment and money supply growth all accelerated, prompting many economists to say the recovery is now solid. Officials have been more circumspect, though.

Yao said the slide in China's economic performance which began in the second half of last year had already been arrested.

"But we cannot be blindly optimistic about these achievements, as the basis for China's economic recovery is still not firm, and there exist many uncertainties," he was paraphrased as saying.

As for the possible threat of resurgent inflation, Yao said that at least for this year it would not be a worry.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Dean Yates)