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China's GDP growth probably went up to 8% in this year

China's economy probably grew faster than any other major country this year as exports and foreign investment surged and the government increased spending on roads, airports and bridges.

Gross domestic product likely grew 8 percent in 2002, after expanding 7.3 percent last year, according to the median forecast of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The National Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to announce preliminary GDP figures for this year at 8:30am Beijing time on Monday.

China's growth is being fueled in part by exports, which rose 22 percent in the first 11 months of the year, and by surging foreign investment following the country's entry into the WTO last year. That, combined with rising domestic investment in property and infrastructure projects is helping China outpace growth in countries such as the US and Japan.

"China's export growth was particularly strong this year, and the large domestic economy has its own momentum," said Vincent Chan, an economist at UBS Warburg in Hong Kong. "Global trade may be slowing down but China's market share is rising."

State Development Planning Minister Zeng Peiyan predicted 8 percent economic growth this year at a press conference during the Communist Party's 16th Congress last month. The economy expanded 8.1 percent from a year earlier in the third quarter of this year, after growing 8 percent in the second quarter.

Foreign companies are boosting production in China to grab a larger share of the growing domestic market and to take advantage of low labor costs to manufacture for export.
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