China set to report blistering growth

BEIJING – China is set to report yet more blistering growth figures today amid an emerging consensus that government attempts to apply the brakes have been far too feeble to slow the runaway economy.

Even before the widely anticipated release of first-quarter data, preliminary statistics suggested key fixed asset investment was picking up dangerously and one official went on the record to warn against overheating. “We have completed the first quarter economic statistics,” said Geng Qinzeng, a deputy department chief with the National Bureau of Statistics, according to the Nanfang Daily.”The people who have studied the figures think that risks of overheating are emerging and that the overheating could be as serious as last year,” he added.China’s economy, the world’s fourth-largest, expanded by 10,7 per cent last year, the fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth, after a gain of 10,4 per cent in the three months to December.The pace likely picked up in the first three months of 2007, with some forecasts running at more than 11 per cent, suggesting a raft of cooling measures have so far had at best only a marginal impact, analysts said.”The recent rebound confirms our view that these policies have had only a temporary effect as a result of their piecemeal nature,” said Sun Mingchun, a Hong Kong-based economist with Lehman Brothers.Nampa-AFP”We have completed the first quarter economic statistics,” said Geng Qinzeng, a deputy department chief with the National Bureau of Statistics, according to the Nanfang Daily.”The people who have studied the figures think that risks of overheating are emerging and that the overheating could be as serious as last year,” he added.China’s economy, the world’s fourth-largest, expanded by 10,7 per cent last year, the fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth, after a gain of 10,4 per cent in the three months to December.The pace likely picked up in the first three months of 2007, with some forecasts running at more than 11 per cent, suggesting a raft of cooling measures have so far had at best only a marginal impact, analysts said.”The recent rebound confirms our view that these policies have had only a temporary effect as a result of their piecemeal nature,” said Sun Mingchun, a Hong Kong-based economist with Lehman Brothers.Nampa-AFP