Shanghai to hit record output

Shanghai’s mayor believes the city will achieve record output of US$125 billion this year, but annual growth will slow to single figures for the first time in 15 years, the Wall Street Journal reported. Han Zheng gave visiting US editors no reason for his prediction that annual growth would slow to 9.4%. Last year’s 11% GDP rise was the slowest expansion for Shanghai in 15 years, but it still outpaced the national average of 9.9%. The Shanghai municipal government earlier this year predicted that annual growth would average 9% over the next five years, with annual output reaching US$186 billion by 2010.