China: Economy grew 10.1 percent in '04
(AP)
Updated: 2006-01-09 14:57

SHANGHAI, China - China has revised its 2004 gross domestic product growth rate to 10.1 percent from 9.5 percent following the recent completion of an economic census, the National Statistics Bureau said Monday.

The bureau also revised GDP data for the years 1993 to 2003.

Based on the revisions, China's GDP grew by an average annual rate of 9.6 percent between 1979 and 2004, 0.2 percentage point higher than originally reported.

On Tuesday, China revised its economic growth for 2005 to 9.8 percent from 9.4 percent, taking into account the census results released in December, the Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the National Development and Reform Commission.

The revisions were due to higher than expected activity in the services sector, long ignored by the outdated statistical system that focuses on manufacturing and relies on businesses to have a full-time employee to report statistics — something small, private firms rarely do.

Following the census, the bureau also raised its estimate for the size of China's economy in 2004 by 16.8 percent to $1.98 trillion, from the previously reported $1.7 trillion.