Think tank predicts 7% 2Q GDP growth

A government-affiliated think tank said that rising investment on the back of China’s economic stimulus package will likely lift the country’s second-quarter economic growth to 7%, AP reported, citing state media. This growth would represent a rebound from the 6.1% GDP growth recorded in the first quarter of the year, the slowest rate in more than a decade. The State Information Center said that fixed-asset investment is forecast to rise 27.6% year-on-year in the second quarter, a figure only slightly lower than the 28.8% growth seen in the same period one year ago. The think tank’s report, published on Monday in the state-run newspaper the China Securities Journal, predicted that exports would continue to decline in the second quarter, falling by 20.2% year-on-year to US$287.7 billion. Meanwhile, imports are expected to drop by 25.5% to US$225.6 billion.