China Raises 2023 Estimate    12/26 06:59

   China's economy grew a bit more in 2023 than earlier thought, but the 
revision has not affected forecasts for "about 5%" growth in the GDP this year, 
the government said Thursday.

   BANGKOK (AP) -- China's economy grew a bit more in 2023 than earlier 
thought, but the revision has not affected forecasts for "about 5%" growth in 
the GDP this year, the government said Thursday.

   The estimate for total economic activity, or GDP, in 2023 for the world's 
second largest economy was increased by about 2.7% to 129.4 trillion yuan 
($17.7 trillion), based on an economic census conducted once every five years. 
Earlier this year, the government said the GDP in 2023 was 126.06 trillion yuan.

   The exact impact on China's annual economic growth in 2023 was not given. 
Officials said further details would be released later. The economy grew at a 
5.2% annual pace in 2023, according to the earlier estimate, up from 3% in 2022.

   The size of the U.S. economy in 2023 was $27.36 trillion.

   The economic census included years when the COVID-19 pandemic was causing 
severe disruptions to business activity, travel and ordinary activities in 
China. The economy is still recovering from those shocks and from a severe 
downturn in the housing market that followed a crackdown on excessive borrowing 
by property developers.

   The government has stepped up measures to counter the slowdown in consumer 
spending and business investment, pledging again this week to step up spending 
and issue more bonds to finance support from local governments that are 
suffering partly due to the property crisis.

   Such efforts are helping, the World Bank said in a report Thursday. It 
lifted its estimate for China's growth this year to 4.9% from its forecast in 
June of 4.8%.

   The World Bank's update for China's annual growth next year was raised to 
4.5% from an earlier 4.1%, but it still shows growth slowing in coming years. 
The forecast for 2026 is for the economy to expand at a 4% pace.

   Weakness in the property sector remains a drag on growth, and people whose 
houses have lost value will remain reluctant to spend much. That will keep 
inflation low, the report said, at 0.4% for this year, rising to 1.1% in 2025.

   It noted that while moves to boost demand by cutting mortgage down payments 
and interest rates, funding affordable housing projects and subsidizing 
recycling programs for cars and appliances are supporting demand, such measures 
won't do enough to restore growth to higher levels.

   The risk of higher tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S. once 
President-elect Donald Trump takes office and other limits on trade are other 
potential threats to the economy given China's growing reliance on exports to 
help drive growth.

   The World Bank reiterated its calls for China to improve its social safety 
net and to help redress widening inequality to help provide a firmer economic 
footing for the hundreds of millions of its people who are either low income or 
part of what it calls the "vulnerable middle class," and are at risk of falling 
back into poverty.