By Chua Chin Hon, China Bureau Chief

BEIJING: China has the resources and policy tools to create enough jobs next year, the World Bank said yesterday, even as it projected the mainland's growth to slow to its weakest pace since 1990.

The bank's estimate of 7.5 per cent growth for the Chinese economy in 2009 is also lower than those from the International Monetary Fund (8.5 per cent) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (8 per cent) this week.

But their projections are still considered optimistic by the standards of economists in the private banking sector, some of whom have issued dire warnings of a severe slowdown in China.

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