China maintains a rapid and healthy economic growth, as its 2010 gross domestic product grew 10.3% over a year ago, putting China’s economy over Japan’s, according to People’s Daily.
The National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday in Beijing that GDP rose to 39.7983 trillion yuan (about US$6.1 trillion), rising 10.3% over 2009. The figure puts China's scale of economy bigger than Japan's last year.
The double-digit economic growth last year marks the fastest annual expansion since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008.
Major propellers behind the rapid growth are a proactive fiscal policy and bank loans that inspire a boom in infrastructure construction all through the country, rising domestic consumption by a middle class with more incomes, and a strong demand for Chinese exports abroad.
China's consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, rose 3.3% from a year earlier over the 12 months, exceeding Beijing's full-year target of 3% as food and commodity costs soared across the board. But, December inflation slowed to 4.6% year-on-year compared with 5.1% in November, which was the fastest pace in 28 months.
Beijing has been trying to slow the economy and bring inflation under control amid fears that soaring food and urban property costs are creating equity bubbles and elevating inflationary pressure.
The policy-makers aim to cut new bank lending for 2011 by 10% from last year, after new loans in 2010 hit 7.95 trillion yuan, exceeding the 7.5 trillion-yuan official target.
Source: People's Daily Online