China¡¯s economy is expected to grow 8.9 percent in 2006, slowing from 9.9 percent last year, the central bank¡¯s research department said in a report published Monday. Annual growth in China¡¯s gross domestic product will gradually slow from 9.2 percent in the first quarter of this year to 9 percent in the second quarter, 8.9 percent in the third and 8.7 percent in the fourth quarter, said the report, carried by the China Securities Journal. (SD-Agencies)

China will boost development of its central region in line with its strategy to promote coordinated development of various regions, according to a top-level meeting held on Monday. "We should further cultivate a new scenario featuring interaction between the eastern, central and western regions and common development," said a statement from the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, chaired by the committee's General Secretary Hu Jintao. (Xinhua)