Provinces beat national growth figures

Three quarters of China's provinces saw growth of 12% during the first half of the year, far higher than the national average. The figures push the case for the government to rein in the economy and raise questions about the accuracy of GDP figures, the South China Morning Post reported. Every province, region and municipality in the country saw double-digit growth in the first six months of 2006 and 23 topped the 12% benchmark, according to figures released Monday by the National Development and Reform Commission. Inner Mongolia grew by 18.2%. Last month, the National Bureau of Statistics put national growth figures for the first half at 10.9% and 11.3% year-on-year for the second quarter, the newspaper said.