China's economic miracle will continue - OECD
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-16 15:49

China's 25-year economic miracle is likely to be sustained for "some time" and its booming economy should grow by 9.0 percent this year and 9.2 percent in 2006, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report says.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) logo. [AFP]

The longer-term sustainability of China's economic growth will depend on strengthening the private sector and deepening reforms in capital markets and the finance and banking sectors, the Paris-based OECD said in its first "Economic Survey of China."

"The pace of economic change in China has been extremely rapid since the start of economic reforms just over 25 years ago," the 205-page report begins.

"Economic growth has averaged 9.5 percent over the past two decades and seems likely to continue at that pace for some time."

China's economic expansion "represents one of the most sustained and rapid economic transformations seen in the world economy in the past 50 years" but key changes must occur if the economic miracle is to continue, it added.

These changes must come about as rapid urbanization brings hundreds of millions of farmers to the cities, as the income gap widens, as employment and social security pressures grow, and as environmental deterioration becomes increasingly burdensome.

Besides predicting China's economic growth in 2005 and 2006, the report said the current account balance would rise to US$100 billion this year and US$101 billion in 2006 based on an export-driven economy largely run by private and foreign enterprises.

In 2004, the current account balance was US$68.7 billion.