China`s GDP grows 10.3pc in 2010, exceeding expectations

CHINA`s economy grew 10.3 per cent in 2010, exceeding analysts` expectations, but posting slower GDP growth in the fourth quarter at 9.8 per cent.

Inflation fell in December as Beijing moved to rein in prices. The 2010 figure, up from a revised 9.2 per cent GDP increase in 2009. The 2009 figure put China ahead of Japan and just behind the US in ranking of the world`s largest economies.


China`s consumer price index rose 4.6 per cent year on year in December compared with 5.1 per cent in November, the fastest growth in more than two years, reported Agence France-Presse. The index rose 3.3 per cent for all of 2010 - exceeding the government`s full-year target of three per cent because of rising food prices.


There was a 15.7 per cent increase in China-wide factory output in 2010. Urban fixed asset investment, a measure of government spending on infrastructure, rose 24.5 per cent over the 12 months - slower than in the previous year, but retail sales were up 18.4 per cent.