China predicts similar growth for 2014

China's economy will consistently develop in 2014, with an annual GDP growth of 7.6 percent, nearly equal to last year's growth rate, as predicted by a Chinese academic agency on Thursday.

The "China Economic Forecast for 2014" was put together by the Center for Forecasting Science, an agency affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

According to the forecast, the annual CPI and PPI for 2014 are expected to rise 3.1 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively, higher than that of 2013.

China's consumption will maintain stable growth, with a growth rate of 13.7 percent in 2014, slightly higher than that of 2013. China is also predicted to see a stable investment growth of 20 percent for the new year, just as it did for 2013.

In the context of a continuing recovery for developed economies and stable growth of China's economy, the country's export and import business is expected to make steady increases in 2014, both with the growth rate of around 8.2 percent, leaving the country with an increased trade surplus of $278 billion, according to the forecast.

Zhang Yansheng, secretary general of the Academic Committee, National Development and Reform Commission, agreed that the net exports will contribute 0.1 percentage point to China's growth rate in 2014, implying an optimistic outlook for the nation's trade surplus.

But he pointed out that the Academic Committee made a lower growth prediction for China's exports and imports, at 8 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.