China's economy is likely to grow 9.4 per cent this year and slow slightly to 8.9 per cent next year, state media on Monday quoted a top government economist as saying. China's gross domestic product (GDP) should rise by more than the 9.1 per cent last year, as the economy was in an "upward development period", the official China Daily quoted Wang Tongsan, a senior economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, as saying. "If there are no major breaking events internationally, or severe natural disasters or other big domestic issues, the country's economy is capable of maintaining a growth rate of more than 8 per cent next year," Wang said. China's GDP grew 9.6 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of this year, following 9.8 per cent growth in the first quarter. The government said it had achieved "initial results" in its macro-control measures to curb over-investment. "The overall performance of the economy was good," Wang was quoted as saying. But energy and transportation bottlenecks, a possible rebound in investment in fixed assets and a rapid reduction in bank loans were "still troubling", he said. Other economists were concerned about the effect of rising international oil prices on China's economy, the newspaper said.
