China's economic growth is expected to surpass 9 percent in 2008, Yao Jingyuan chief economist of the National Bureau of Statistics said.

"There has been a growing downward pressure in the fourth quarter," Yao was quoted by Beijing Morning Post as saying. "But the annual GDP growth should exceed 9 percent."

China's economy grew 11.9 percent in 2007, but has been losing steam because of the global economic slowdown. It expanded only 9.9 percent in the first three quarters of 2008, the lowest rate in the past four years. Furthermore, the nation's exports in November fell 2.2 percent from a year earlier, the first decline in seven years.

China's economic fundamentals have remained sound and urbanization and industrialization will maintain their momentum, said Yao.

Ha Jiming, chief economist of China International Capital Corporation, said the nation's economy is now facing a greater challenge than the one posed by the Asian financial crisis in 1998. He said that China's exports in 2009 may continue to fall as the nation's largest buyers - Europe and the US - are experiencing worse-than-expected recessions.

(China Daily December 29, 2008)