China's economic growth may fall to 6.5 pc: WB

Beijing, Mar 18: The World Bank on Wednesday, Mar 18 lowered the forecast of economic growth of China for 2009 from 7.5 per cent in Nov to 6.5 per cent this year. But World Bank has warned China that it would be thwarting its own medium-term goals if they tried to further boost the economy to overcome the slowdown.

The bank said that there were both upward and downward risks to its outlook. The main reasons for the global slump are weaker exports and non-government investment. But the bank assured that China's strong economic policies can pave way for a stronger economic growth well beyond 2009.

The bank welcomed the China's step of injecting 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) into the economy since over-reliance on capital-intensive investment could damage the pace of job creation and the quality of growth.

“The fundamentals for China are strong enough to ride out this storm, and it may be just as appropriate to shift the focus as much as possible to the medium and long-term challenges instead of a very narrow focus on short-term growth objectives," Louis Kuijs, the senior economist in the bank"s Beijing office, said at a news conference to launch the report.

OneIndia News