China said Friday that its economy ended 2012 on a stronger note with 7.9% growth in the final quarter. This matched or beat analysts' expectations and lifted full-year growth to 7.8%, above the official forecast. The quarterly pick-up in growth was the first in two years after government stimulus spending spiked growth in 2009-10. The quarterly data supports other indicators of accelerating industrial output and stronger demand for goods, leading some to predict that China has turned a corner. This has broad implications for the world economy, which sagged last year and still face headwinds in Europe and North America. Japan recently unveiled its own stimulus plans that could support exporters in Asia, including China. That said, China's 2012 economic growth was the lowest in 13 years and economists don't expect a sharp acceleration this year. Most banks have predicted full-year growth of 8% or so. That's positively euphoric in comparison to Western economies, but China has to keep generating huge gains because the fruits are distributed so unequally. Shares in Shanghai rose 0.5% Friday morning.
Reported by Forbes.com 14 hours ago.
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