Foreign banks lower China's growth forecast

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Some foreign banks have tuned down forecasts on China's economic growth after the country announced its economic data Wednesday, Chinanews.com reported.

China's GDP grew 9.6 percent year-on-year in the first half of this year, and its consumer price index (CPI) hit a three-year high of 6.4 percent in June, according to the National Statistics Bureau.

Hang Seng Bank and ING Group forecast China's GDP to grow 9.3 percent for the year 2011, down on their previous prediction of 9.8 percent.

Bill Leung, a senior economist at Hang Seng Bank, said that China's economy will grow as affordable housing and water conservancy construction will drive up fixed-asset investment in the coming months, and consumers will spend more with rising incomes.

Meanwhile, the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) expects China's economy to rise 9.5 percent this year.

China's manufacturing sector is markedly slowing down, and exporters in this sector are feeling the pinch of the rising material costs and wages as well as an appreciating yuan, according to Chris Leung Shiu Kay, a senior economist for Greater China region at DBS Bank (Hong Kong) Limited. However, a flagging manufacturing sector is a trend of globalization as it is also seen in other parts of world, he added.

He also notes that the country's inbound investment shows no sign of slowing down and personal consumption growth remains strong.