Statistics bureau: China raises 2008 GDP growth to 9.6%

China has revised its gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for 2008 to 9.6 percent from 9 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said today.

That raised GDP for 2008 to 31.4045 trillion yuan from the previous figure of 30.067 trillion yuan, NBS director Ma Jiantang told a press conference.

The new figure amounted to about 4.59 trillion U.S. dollars, at the exchange rate on Dec. 31 of 2008.

The revised volume for the agriculture sector was 3.3702 trillion yuan, accounting for 10.7 percent of GDP, down from 3.4 trillion yuan.

The figure for the industrial sector was put at 14.9003 trillion yuan, accounting for 47.5 percent of GDP, was larger than the earlier figure of 14.6183 trillion yuan.

The service sector figure was 13.1340 trillion yuan, accounting for 41.8 percent of GDP. It was up from 12.0487 trillion yuan.

Source: Xinhua