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Chinese economy is expected to grow at about 8 percent in the first half of this year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The half-year growth rate is almost equal to last year's annual growth of 8.1 percent.
The NBS said that the economy has maintained the momentum of steady growth from January to June, showing a sharp contrast to the slowdown of the world economy during the period.
Chinese economists say that the steady economic growth was mainly due to higher investment and consumption demands.
NBS figures showed that fixed asset investment jumped 17.6 percent year-on-year in the first five months of the year, while retail sales surged 10.3 percent.
The growth of domestic demands helped offset the impact of the global economic slowdown on the economy. During January-May, China's exports grew 13.5 percent year-on-year, compared with a 36.1 percent growth in the same period of last year.
Increasing investment and consumption demands has fueled stronger growth of production in the first half of the year. The added industrial output value of the country in May reached 227.9 billion yuan, 10.2 percent up on May of 2000. From January to May, added industrial output value grew by 11.1 percent year-on-year.
(Xinhua 06/26/2001)
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