BoCOM: Double dip recession in 2010 unlikely

China Bank of Communications (BoCOM) said in a report released Saturday that a double dip recession for China in 2010 is unlikely, state media reported. BoCOM’s report predicted China’s GDP growth rate to remain above 9% for the rest of the year, and then slow during the first half of 2011. Consumer price inflation is expected to continue its fall. The bank forecast consumption to grow 18.5% year-on-year, and export growth to remain above 20%. The report also predicted that monetary policy would remain unchanged in the second half of the year, because the direction of the global economy remains hazy. "For China, it is never a recession unless the economic growth drops below 7%," said Lian Ping, chief economist at BoCOM.