MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chinese economy performing better than expected

Although exports are down, Chinese domestic demand is helping to boost the rest of the world economy

The Chinese economy grew above 7% in the first nine months of the year and is poised to surpass the 8% expansion target for this year, according to a top official from the financial sector speaking in Beijing.

China is scheduled to announce next Thursday the latest official data on the performance of the economy during the third quarter.

However Xiong Bilin, an outstanding official from the Economic Planning Office advanced Monday that the growth rate in the first nine months of the economy had been “slightly above 7%”.

“Achieving a growth rate of 8% this year is not basically a problem” said Xiong, who is the Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Committee.

The latest data suggests that recovery of retail sales and industrial production has helped to compensate the impact of the significant reduction of exports.

More over Yu Bin a researcher from the Development Research Centre in Beijing, and close to the cabinet, said during a conference over the weekend that the Chinese economy expansion during the second half of 2009 can be expected to be above 9%.

A brief article on the conference was published Monday in the financial magazine Caijing.

Expansion of the Chinese economy, particularly domestic demand has become crucial for world growth and recovery.

Chinese demand for commodities also has an immediate impact on Latinamerican countries which export mainly unprocessed minerals, cereals, oilseeds and energy.