China expects its economy to grow by at least nine percent in the first half of this year.

Deputy chief of the National Bureau of Statistics, Qiu Xiaohua, says, in the second half of the year, policies to cool the economy will kick off, so the growth for all of this year will be closer to eight percent.

China's economy rose 9.1 percent last year.

The top statistician says, with industrial growth still in double digits and the agricultural and service sectors rebounding from relatively sluggish performance, that strong growth is continuing into this year.

The government has officially targeted a much lower growth rate for 2004, of around seven percent to avoid overheating in key sectors of the economy.  
 
(CRI April 1, 2004)