China's gross domestic product ( GDP) is expected to grow 8.5 percent this year, said Qiu Xiaohua, deputy director of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) at a press conference here Friday.

Qiu said the GDP for the first three quarters totaled 7.9 trillion yuan (about 956.6 billion US dollars), up 8.5 percent, indicating that the economy has cast off the impact of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and resumed fast growth.

He said the industry completed a total added value of 2.88 trillion yuan (about 350 billion US dollars) in the first three quarters, increasing by 16.5 percent year-on-year.

Exports and imports totaled 606.3 billion US dollars, up 36.2 percent and foreign direct investment (FDI) in use totaled 40.2 billion US dollars, up 11.9 percent.

The retail volume of consumer goods totaled 3.27 trillion yuan (about 395 billion US dollars) in the first three quarters, showing an increase of 8.6 percent.

Discretionary income of urban citizens increased to 6,347 yuan (about 774 US dollars), up 9 percent and farmers' income reached 1, 802 yuan (about 220 US dollars), up 3.8 percent.

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