World Bank slashes China growth forecast

The World Bank on Monday lowered its projected 2012 growth rate for China from 8.2% to 7.7%, Financial Times reported. “China’s slowdown this year has been significant, and some fear it could still accelerate,” a World Bank report on Asian economies stated. The world’s second biggest economy will remain weak, with little chance of a major stimulus package, the report said. In 2011, China’s GDP grew 9.3% year on year. The rest of the region, heavily dependent on China’s success, has also struggled. The bank cut its estimated growth for East Asia and the Pacific to 7.2%, a full percentage point below a May forecast. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank group said the region’s share in the global economy has tripled from 6% to 18% during the past 20 years.