China's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to raise by 10.5 in 2006 over the previous year, said Yao Jingyuan, chief economist of the National Bureau of Statistics.

China's economy has maintained a "fast, steady and high quality growth" this year, but efforts needed to be strengthened as bank loans were still expanding at a rapid pace, fixed assets investment remained high and the trade imbalance lingered, Yao said on Chinese Economist 50 Forum.

In the first nine months the national economy experienced rapid growth, with the GDP up 10.7 percent, the industrial sector up 13 percent, retail sales up 13.5 percent and the foreign trade volume up 24.3 percent over the same period last year.

According to Yao, the consumer price index (CPI) raised a moderate 1.3 percent, 0.7 of a percentage point lower than the rise of the same period last year.

Yao said that the declines of CPI, industrial production price index, and enterprise material price index indicates China's economy is operating in a stable and health way.

(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2007)