commodities bull run to resume in h2 2007 , page-5

chinas economy wont slow after olympics China's Economy Won't Slow After Olympics, State Economist Says

By William Bi

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- China's economy may grow between 7 and 8 percent annually for at least 15 years, defying predictions that expansion will slow after the 2008 Olympic Games, a government economist said yesterday.

Expansion in the service industry and rising incomes among farmers will keep the world's fourth-largest economy growing at the current pace until the middle of the century, Li Yining, an economist with the State Council, said in Beijing.

China's economic growth has been driven by industrial expansion and its service industry accounts for a smaller part of gross domestic product than in developed economies. Beijing, which will play host to the next summer Olympics, is in the midst of a building frenzy as it prepares for the games.

``China, unlike certain countries, will not have a post- Olympic syndrome, in which economic expansion slows after the boom from the games,'' Li said. The government's effort to raise income levels for the country's 900 million farmers, or 300 million rural households, will pay off, he said.

``We have the world's biggest market in our countryside. Just imagine a car, an air-conditioner, and a computer for each household,'' Li said.

China's economy, the world's fourth largest, expanded 10.2 percent in 2005. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. yesterday forecast growth of 9.8 percent for next year.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Bi in Beijing at [email protected] .