The Olympic Games Beijing is to host in 2008 will help China's capital record robust economic growth and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, the city's leading statisticians said on Monday.

Owing to the "Olympic factor," Beijing can expect its gross domestic product (GDP), after allowing for inflation, to grow at 9.8 percent a year leading to 2008, 0.8 percentage points higher than the average growth between 2001 and 2005, Wei Xiaozhen, a division director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, was quoted as saying by China Daily.

A cumulative 1.82 million jobs will be created between 2004 and 2008 thanks to the Games, Wei and her colleague Yan Ping concluded in the city's 2006 economic development report published on Sunday.

The "Olympic factor" refers to the impetus generated by 134.86 billion yuan (US$16.65 billion) in direct investment for hosting the Games, Wei said.

Based on projects listed in the Games' action plan, 79 percent of the funds will be channeled into post and telecommunications, infrastructure facilities and improvement of the living environment, the report says.

The funding will give a shot in the arm to at least 50 industrial and business segments related to the Games, it says.

"Beijing's preparations for the Olympic Games also mean tremendous opportunities for foreign investors, who could become part of the growth story through bidding or supplying accessory products and services," Wei said.

Based on analyses of former Olympic host cities such as Seoul and Sydney, as well as ground realities in Beijing, Wei's research team estimates the "Olympic factor" will add 5.45 billion yuan (US$673 million) to the city's finance and insurance sector in five years from 2004, and 17.28 billion yuan (US$2.13 billion) to the construction industry.

Construction of Olympic venues and related facilities will translate into 430,000 extra jobs in the sector in five years, the report says.

But employment will shrink significantly when construction of projects draws to an end, it adds.

Other top employers benefiting from, and bolstered by the "Olympic factor" are wholesale and retail, equipment and instrument manufacturers, and light and textile industries, the book says.

For tourism, 2008 will be also a bonanza year.

The report predicts that at least two million more people will visit Beijing in the year.

The number of visits to Beijing increased from 95.12 million in 1999 to 123.15 million in 2004, according to official statistics.

The report does not project the total number of visitors Beijing will receive in 2008, neither does it attempt to predict how much profits the Games will make.

(Xinhua News Agency January 17, 2006)