China to become biggest economy by year-end

China is expected to surpass US with an estimated GDP of $17.6 trillion by the end of this year, becoming the world's largest economy, Financial Times reported Wednesday.

The data was released by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the number was calculated at purchasing power parity (PPPs), which was used to compare the size of economies by estimating the real cost of living.

IMF estimated US's GDP at $17.4 trillion; $200 billion lower than that of China.

Early in April, a report prepared by International Comparison Program (IPC) had hinted that the purchasing power of Chinese currency was higher than the anticipated.

In 2005, IPC calculated that China's GDP was less than half of the GDP of US. It also once placed China's GDP at 87 percent of the US in 2011.