CHINA / Figure that Matters

GDP growth to average 7.5%
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-20 09:09

China's economy will grow at an average 7.5 percent a year in 2006-2010, the State Information Centre, forecast in a research report carried by the Shanghai Securities News on Monday.

"In the 11th five-year period, GDP growth will average 7.5 percent," the report said, referring to the period beginning this year.

In the first five years of this decade, China's GDP grew at an average 9.5 percent a year. In that period, energy consumption was excessive and pollution got worse, the report said.

China's planners have set a goal of reducing energy consumed per unit of GDP by about 20 percent, and reducing emissions by 10 percent, the report said, to move away from a growth-for-growth's sake approach.