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BEIJING - The World Bank said Tuesday China's economy will grow by just 7.5 percent in 2009, the lowest level in 19 years, due partly to the global economic slowdown.
The forecast, made in the World Bank's quarterly update on China, is down from a previous estimate of 9.2 percent, and would be the fourth lowest growth rate in the country since the launch of reforms three decades ago.
The last time China's economy saw a similar slowdown was in 1990 - amid international isolation following the Tiananmen massacre the year before - when it grew by just 3.8 percent.
"The prospects of the world economy are much weaker than six months ago," Louis Kuijs, a World Bank senior economist, told a briefing in Beijing.
"But in addition to that, the deceleration domestically has been more pronounced."
Weakness in the housing sector is a major factor weakening the domestic side of the Chinese economy, he said.
This year, China's economy is likely to grow by 9.4 percent, the World Bank said in its report. In its previous quarterly update, it had predicted 9.8 percent growth for 2008.
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