Rebound may fuel change

China's economic growth rate of 8.7-percent for 2009 is faster than the government's projected growth target of 8 percent. It is barely a surprise.

Gross domestic product (GDP) reached 33.54 trillion yuan ($4.91 trillion) in 2009, National Bureau of Statistics director Ma Jiantang said in Beijing yesterday.

While describing the country's economic development in 2009 as a "harvest", he attributed the recovery mainly to the implementation of the proactive fiscal policy and moderately loose monetary policy, as well as the government stimulus package, to cope with the global financial crisis.