China GDP shows no sign of easing
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-05-25 09:14

"Second-quarter gross domestic product growth will not be necessarily lower than the first quarter's," Li Deshui, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, told Reuters when asked whether the economy was slowing in the current quarter.

"The economy in general is maintaining steady growth."

China revised its latest GDP data Monday, saying it now estimates first-quarter GDP was 9.4 percent higher than a year earlier, compared with the 9.5 percent figure initially issued.

The continued strength in the economy, despite intensive efforts by the government to rein in lending and investment, is unsettling some senior officials who fear boom could end in bust.

The economy expanded 9.5 percent last year and economists expect only a modest slowdown this year.

Zhang Guobao, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, on Tuesday criticized the blind pursuit of fast growth for its own sake.

"With economic growth of 9.5 percent, some people think power-generating capacity growth of 15 percent is still slow," Zhang told an energy conference in Beijing.

"They are just pursuing high economic growth without taking into consideration the need for a change in the economic structure, a change in outdated competitive patterns," said Zhang. "This is not conducive to economic development. It could lead the economy into a new round of overheating and inflation," he said.

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