China revised the growth rate of its gross domestic product (GDP) for 2007 to 13.0 percent from 11.9 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Wednesday.

The pace was the fastest since 1994 when the GDP expanded by 13.1 percent, according to the NBS data.

Final verification showed the GDP totaled 25.7306 trillion yuan (US$3.76 trillion), an increase of 777.6 billion yuan over the initial verification data, which was released in April 2008.

The figure for the agriculture sector was 2.8627 trillion yuan, 53.2 billion yuan larger than previous verification.

The data for the industry and service sectors were 12.4799 and 10.388 trillion yuan respectively or 341.8 and 382.6 billion yuan larger than previous figures.

The bureau reformed its GDP reporting mechanism in 2003. It is now divided into three steps: initial calculation, initial verification and final verification.

China's annual GDP growth rate for 2007 was 11.4 percent after the initial calculation in January 2008. In April it was revised up to 11.9 percent after the initial verification.

The final figure is often larger because it takes time to collect complete economic data from millions of small private and service businesses, said an expert, who declined to be named.

China is expected to record single-digit economic growth in 2008, the first time in six years, as the recession in the US, Europe and Japan reduce demands for goods. For example, Deutsche Bank economists forecast China's 2008 economic growth to be 9 percent.

China's GDP expanded 9 percent in the third quarter last year, down from 10.1 percent in the second quarter and 10.6 percent in the first quarter, according to the NBS.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2009)