China's GDP to grow 8 pct: think tank

BEIJING - China's GDP is expected to expand by about 8 percent this year with CPI growing moderately at 3.4 percent, according to a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

The think tank said in a blue paper released on Friday that China's economy will maintain a continuous and stable growth rate amid slow recovery of the world economy and quantitative easing policies adopted by major economies, including the United States, European countries and Japan.

Social fixed-assets investment is expected to exceed 45 trillion yuan (7.3 trillion US dollars), a real growth of 17.9 percent from 2012. The investment makes up 78.2 percent of GDP, according to the 2013 Ecomony Blue Paper.

As the world economy is recovering slowly and some uncertainties remain, China's imports and exports will reach 1.987 trillion yuan and 2.231 trillion US dollars, up 9.3 percent and 8.9 percent from 2012, respectively, the paper said.

Trade surplus is estimated at 244 billion US dollars, it added.