China's economy grew 10.2% in 1st Qtr
(Bloomberg.com)
Updated: 2006-04-16 12:36
China, the world's fastest-growing major economy, expanded by an estimated
10.2 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier, President Hu
Jintao said.
The median forecast was for first- quarter gross domestic product growth of
9.6 percent from the year earlier period, compared with 9.9 percent in the
fourth quarter. Hu made the comments in a speech at the Great Hall of the People
today during a meeting with the former chairman of Taiwan's nationalist party
Lien Chan.
"This growth rate is above market expectations," said Tai Hui, Hong
Kong-based economist with Standard Chartered Bank.
China's economy expanded by an average 10 percent in the past three years
driven by an investment boom. Premier Wen Jiabao said the government will
tighten controls on fixed-asset investment and lending after reviewing the
country's first-quarter performance, the Xinhua News Agency reported on April
14.
China leapfrogged France and the U.K. to become the world's fourth-largest
economy last year, boosted by the results of a nationwide census in 2004 that
showed the $2.26 trillion economy was 17 percent bigger than previously
estimated.
The National Bureau of Statistics is due to release GDP figures and other
economic data for March at 10 a.m. in Beijing on April 20.
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