China's gross domestic product grew by 8.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2002 from a year ago, the same pace as in the third quarter and faster than the 6.6 per cent recorded in the final quarter of 2001, said Zhu Zhixin, head of the National Bureau of Statistics. Forces driving the growth were exports, which surged 22 per cent, investment, which rose by a fifth, and factory production, which increased by 13 per cent.
China now has the world's sixth-biggest economy and its growth is helping to buoy up the global economy. In 2002 China contributed about 11 per cent to world growth, second only to the US, and accounted for 3.7 per cent of the world's gross domestic product, according to Deutsche Bank.