China’s GDP Growth May Fall To 7.7% From 9.3%: World Bank

Growth in the gross domestic product of the world’s second-largest economy may drop by a sizable 1.6 percentage points between 2011 and 2012, according to the World Bank’s “East Asia and Pacific Economic Data Monitor” released in Singapore on Monday.

Exports and investments are the main culprits that may cut China’s GDP growth from 9.3 percent last year to 7.7 percent this year, the World Bank reported. However, it said the country’s economic growth is expected to rebound to 8.1 percent next year, thanks to the effects of stimulus measures and improvements in global trade.

In China, the growth of domestic demand in real terms has fallen this year versus last year, the World Bank said. And it noted investment growth had stalled -- primarily because of the measures taken to restrain investments in real estate last year -- but pointed out the relaxation in monetary policy this year could help reverse this trend, among other factors.

Meanwhile, the World Bank forecast economic growth in the East Asia and Pacific region as a whole may dip by a full percentage point -- to 7.2 percent this year from 8.2 percent last year -- before recovering to 7.6 percent next year. It also predicted developing countries would grow faster than developed countries would during this recovery in the region.

"The East Asia and Pacific region’s share in the global economy has tripled in the last two decades, from 6 percent to almost 18 percent today, which underscores the critical importance of this region’s continued growth for the rest of the world,” World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement.