The World Bank estimated China's economic growth will hit 10.4% this year but anticipates a slowdown to 9.6% in 2007. The growth figure for 2007 in the World Bank's latest quarterly report was revised upwards from 9.3% estimated in August, AFP reported. China needs to address its surging trade surplus to deal with fast growth which could create or aggravate structural imbalances. The World Bank said Beijing needs to shift production from industry to services and rely more on domestic demand while striving to spread development over a wider cross section of the population. "The lower investment growth that the authorities aim for, which is desirable for efficiency reasons, could aggravate the external imbalance if achieved without more consumption growth," said Bert Hofman, the bank's lead economist for China.
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