China leads world toward recovery

China's economic growth rate shot up in the second quarter fueled by government spending and bank lending, boosting hopes that the biggest emerging economy will lead the way out of the worst global downturn since the 1930s.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerated in the second quarter, to 7.9 percent from 6.1 percent in the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.

A string of accompanying NBS data for June depicted an economy successfully making up for a slump in exports through domestic demand, especially capital spending, generated by a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) pump-priming package and record bank lending.