Economist: 8.5 percent growth possible for China

Edited and translated by People's Daily Online

A noted economist has shown optimism for the Chinese economy, saying the growth rate is still possible to reach 8.5 percent in 2012.

Yu Bin, a drafter of the Report on the Work of the Government and a researcher with the Development and Research Center of the State Council made the remarks at a recent briefing meeting on China's macroeconomic situation.

He believes that three factors are affecting China's economic growth.

First, the pace of the global economic recovery has slowed down, leading to the recession in China's oversea market demand.

Second, China's domestic real estate market has entered an adjustment stage and it will affect both the growths of investment and consumption.

Third, after developing rapidly for 30 successive years, the fundamentals of the Chinese economy have changed.

He said that the combination of the recession in the short-term demand and the potential decreases of medium-term and long-term growth rates will make China's economic growth face a certain pressure of slowdown.

If no global financial crisis occurs and China's domestic real estate market keeps steady generally, it is still possible for China's economic growth to reach about 8.5 percent this year, he said.