China's average economic growth rate in the first nine years of the 1990s ranked first in the world, according to statistics released Monday by the World Bank(WB).

The WB report said that in the 1990-1998 period, the world's average economic growth rate was 2.4 percent, much lower than the 3.2percent rate in the 1980s.

The low average world economic growth rate in the period was largely attributed to the financial turmoil that struck Asia in the second half of 1997.

The WB figures show that China registered an average economic growth rate of 11.2 percent in the first nine years of the1990s, the highest in the world, followed by Vietnam at 8 percent and Chile at 7.8 percent.

Singapore ranked fourth in the world at 7.7 percent, followed by Sudan at 7.4 percent, Ireland and Uganda at 7.2 percent, and Malaysia at 6.9 percent.