While the world economy is still trying to emerge from recession, China is showing signs of economic overheating. The nation's statistics bureau announced yesterday that gross domestic product rose 10.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2009, which brings economic growth for the full year to 8.7% and confirms that China is on course to overtake Japan and become the world's second-largest economy.
Industrial production jumped by 18.5% in the year to December, while retail sales increased by 17.5%, boosted by government incentives for purchases of cars and electrical appliances. The government said the gain in retail sales last year was the biggest since 1986.
The figure didn't come as a surprise since towards the...