China's economy is likely to grow at a much lower average annual growth rate of 7.6 per cent until 2020 but it won't stop the world's most populous nation's ambitious target of establishing a "all-around well-off society," a government think-tank has forecast.
The expected growth rate until 2020 is lower than during the 1978-2004 period, when China's growth averaged at 9.4 per cent, the State Information Centre said during a two-day international conference on China's development strategies.
During the first three quarters of this year, China's gross domestic product grew by 9.4 per cent.
Preliminary estimates show that China's GDP totalled $1.3 trillion during January to September, a year-on-year rise of 9.4 per cent, or 0.1 percentage point decline from the growth of a year earlier.
The Chinese economy showed a steady growth momentum with GDP growth rates standing at 9.4 per cent, 9.5 per cent and 9.4 per cent for the first, second and third quarter, respectively.
In 2004, China's GDP was $1.65 trillion, representing an impressive growth of 9.5 per cent year on year.
The SIC, a major data provider for the National Development Reform Commission, also forecast that China's economy will grow at eight per cent annually in the coming five years.
This thinking was echoed by the State Council Development Research Centre, the Chinese central government's leading think-tank, which expects 8.1 per cent growth every year during the 2006-10 period.