By Xinhua,
Beijing : In view of the rapid growth of China’s service sector, the World Bank (WB) has raised its forecast for the country’s 2008 economic growth to 9.8 percent in a report released Thursday.
In April, the bank had forecast a 9.4 percent growth for China, down from the 9.6 percent prediction made in the beginning of 2008 and 10.8 percent made in mid 2007.
The upward revision is largely based on the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) data reflecting on a stronger service sector growth , said the World Bank in a quarterly update for the country.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics has raised the country’s GDP growth for last year by half a percentage point to 11.9 percent, the fastest since 1994. The increased GDP volume was also driven by services industry growth, according to the bureau.
The WB report said most developing and emerging markets, like China, would outperform high-income countries, as they were less directly exposed to the financial turmoil and would see a modest, orderly slowdown.
China’s economic growth had moderated to a more sustainable pace, which in part reflected less buoyant investment, but the country’s domestic economy was doing, the report said.
Exports, backed up by the country’s strong international competitiveness and a robust domestic economy, would support China’s growth for 2008 amid weak and uncertain global prospects, it said.
It also noted that although damage in the earthquake hitting southwestern China in May was huge, the macroeconomic impact was likely to be modest as the affected area accounted for only a small part of China’s GDP.