China's economy booms

CHINA on Thursday posted its fastest economic growth in almost three years, quashing any doubt about its robust recovery from the global crisis.

But its surprisingly strong 11.9 per cent expansion in the first quarter of this year has also stoked fears of overheating, while raising pressure on Beijing to remove the yuan's peg to the United States dollar.

China is the second Asian economy this week to report a stellar first-quarter rebound after Singapore, which grew 13.1 per cent, reflecting Asia's position in leading the world out of recession.

China's performance trumped the median forecast of 11.7 per cent in a Bloomberg survey, buoyed by a rebound in industrial production and an 18 per cent rise in retail sales.

This led National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Li Xiaochao to declare that the Chinese economy is 'off to a good start' this year.

'In 2009, China was among the first countries to recover. This year, the economy's momentum has increased,' Mr Li said at a press conference to announce the results on Thursday. 'Our 8per cent growth target this year is achieveable.'