CASS predicts China's economy to grow 9.9 percent in 2010

BEIJING, April 22 (Xinhua) -- A leading Chinese government think tank Thursday forecast the country's 2010 economic growth would top the 8-percent target set by the central government by almost 2 percentage points.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) forecast China's gross domestic product (GDP) would expand by 9.9 percent this year, 1.2 percentage points higher than last year's growth rate.

Its forecast is higher than the 9.6-percent economic growth predicted by the Asian Development Bank earlier this month.

Fixed assets investment would rise 33.3 percent year on year in 2010, said a blue book on China's 2010 economic prospects jointly released by the CASS and the Social Sciences Academic Press.

The CASS said a slim chance existed of serious inflation in China this year with the consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, growing within a moderate range.

The book also said the government should make economic policies more flexible and better targeted over the rest of the year, while mapping out plans to withdraw stimulus measures gradually within the next two years without jeopardizing economic growth.

China's GDP grew 11.9 percent year on year in the first quarter to 8.06 trillion yuan (1.19 trillion U.S. dollars) and fixed assets investment rose 25.6 percent to 3.53 trillion yuan during the same period.

The country's CPI rose 2.4 percent year on year in March, below the government target limit of 3 percent.