China’s economy is set to grow 7.6 percent in 2013, beating the government’s 7.5 percent target, before losing some steam next year as the government forges ahead with structural reforms, a Reuters poll showed.
Growth for 2014 may come in at 7.4 percent, according to the median forecast in a poll of economists conducted between October 18-22.
The forecasts were little changed from a Reuters poll in July, when economists had predicted growth of 7.5 percent for both this year and next.
While an expansion of 7.6 percent in 2013 year would be the weakest in 24 years, it would still be comfortably above the government’s 7 percent bottom line for annual economic growth.
“A renewed economic slowdown over the next few months is looking increasingly likely. This might reawaken fears of a hard landing. But as long as it was the result of slower growth in credit, it would be a welcome development,” Mark Williams, an economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note, Reuters informs.
