CHINA’S GDP GROWTH

CHINA'S GROWTH EASES TO 11.1% IN FIRST HALF FROM YEAR EARLIER

Bloomberg News, July 15, 2010

China’s economic expansion eased to 10.3 percent in the second quarter and industrial production cooled more than forecast in June, signaling a deeper second- half slowdown that may add to risks for the global economy.

The gain in gross domestic product was less than an 11.9 percent increase in January-March from a year earlier. Inflation cooled to 2.9 percent in June, the statistics bureau also reported in Beijing today. Industrial output rose 13.7 percent, less than all but one of 27 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.

The figures signal a diminishing risk of economic overheating and give Premier Wen Jiabao more room to scale back restrictions on bank lending or property purchases by year-end. The Shanghai Composite Index and stocks across Asia declined as weaker growth in China added to European budget cuts and limited American job gains in clouding prospects for the world recovery.

“There’s no more tightening happening in China” given the slowing expansion, said Stephen Green, head of China research for Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai. Policy makers may loosen some real-estate curbs and approve more infrastructure and investment projects in the fourth quarter as growth slows toward 7 percent before picking up into 2011, he said.

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