Global Economy

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<b>China’s Economy Overtook Germany’s in 2007, Data Show</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) -- China’s economy overtook Germany’s in 2007 to become the world’s third largest, according to revised figures released by the Chinese statistics bureau today.

Gross domestic product rose 13 percent, more than a previous estimate of 11.9 percent, to<b> 25.731 trillion yuan ($3.38 trillion), </b>the bureau said on its Web site today. <b>That topped Germany’s 2.424 trillion euros ($3.32 trillion), </b>based on Bloomberg calculations using average exchange rates for 2007.

The fastest-growing major economy has expanded an average 9.9 percent a year since leader Deng Xiaoping ditched hard-line Communist policies in favor of free-market reforms in 1978. The nation’s efforts to sustain growth by rolling out a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package may help to limit the severity of a deepening global recession.

“<b>This number is just one more piece of evidence that China is one of the most important players on the global stage,” </b>said Huang Yiping, chief Asia economist at Citigroup Inc. in Hong Kong. “China’s importance goes beyond even the ranking as number three because it’s one of the only resilient economies in the world today.”

<b>The U.S. economy is the world’s biggest, followed by Japan. China overtook the U.K. in 2005. </b>

<b>“If China continues to grow at its average rate in the past 20 years and if the U.S. does the same, it will overtake the U.S. in 20 years,”</b> said Tim Condon, head of Asia research at ING Groep NV in Singapore. <b>“There’s no doubt that that will happen -- it’s just a matter of time.”</b>
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