China’s economy to grow 8% with next five-year plan
Sun Xiaoyu, Deputy Director of China's State Council of Development Research Center, said that China's economy is expected to grow at an annual rate of 8% during the 11th five-year plan, which begins in 2006. The statement indicates that China will achieve its goal of quadrupling its gross domestic product from 2000 to 2020 ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, Zheng Jingping, an official from China's National Bureau of Statistics, suggested that China's economy is capable of maintaining an annual growth rate of 8-9% over the next 5 to 10 years.