Chinese economy rebalances amid resilient regional growth: World Bank

BEIJING - China is continuing its economic rebalancing while the outlook for developing East Asian and Pacific economies is expected to remain broadly positive over the next three years, the World Bank said Thursday.

The regional economic momentum was driven by robust domestic demand and a gradual recovery in the global economy and commodity prices, the World Bank said in a report titled "East Asia and Pacific Economic Update."

"China's transition to slower but structurally rebalanced growth continues," noted the report released Thursday.

It expected the Chinese economy to continue to slow gradually as it rebalances toward consumption and services. It has forecast China's economic growth rate to reach 6.5 percent in 2017 and 6.3 percent in 2018, compared with 6.7 percent in 2016.

"In China, growth will continue to moderate, reflecting the impact of the government's measures to reduce excess capacity and credit expansion," said the report, adding that activity in the real estate sector is expected to slow down.

In the rest of the region, including large economies in Southeast Asia, growth is expected to pick up slightly to 5 percent in 2017 and 5.1 percent in 2018, up from 4.9 percent in 2016, it said.

As a whole, the economies of developing East Asia and Pacific are projected to expand at 6.2 percent in 2017 and 6.1 percent in 2018, noted the report.