China's economy to expand 9.4% in 2010, report forecasts

BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- China's economy is forecast to grow 9.4 percent next year on the growth of domestic consumption and improving exports, said a report released Friday by the Beijing-based Renmin University of China.

The country's retail sales are predicted to increase 18.2 percent year on year in 2010, boosted by domestic consumption and income growth, according to the report.

China's retail sales in October rose 16.2 percent year on year to 1.17 trillion yuan (171.3 billion U.S. dollars), according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

The world economy would be on the revival track next year, but a solid recovery was not an easy task, said Liu Yuanchun, deputy head of the School of Economics of the university and the compiler of the report.

Liu predicted that China's exports would rise 13.3 percent and imports 12.2 percent in 2010.

China's exports dropped 13.8 percent year on year to 110.8 billion U.S. dollars last month, the smallest decrease in 10 months, while imports stood at 86.8 billion U.S. dollars, down 6.4percent from a year earlier.

Liu urged the government to step up efforts on low-rent apartment construction next year for urban dwellers.

The affordable housing program, approved in June, is aimed at providing accommodation for 7.47 million low-income urban households from 2009 to 2011.