China confident of economy post-Olympics

Beijing -- China spent more than $42 billion to stage the Beijing Olympics but senior officials are confident the country will not go into a post-Games recession.

"The Olympic Games won't be a watershed for China's economic growth," the China Daily reported Monday, quoting Wang Yiming, vice president of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research.

China's economic growth slowed to 10.1 percent in the first half of this year after growing at an annual 11.9 percent rate last year, raising concerns the economy may shrink after the growth-boosting Games.

But Wang said the fundamentals that helped drive China's economic growth the past three decades will not change even after the Olympics, the report said.

He said given the size of China's economy, the Games had only a limited impact.

Since 2001, when China was picked to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, the country's economy has grown an average of 10.5 percent, the report said.

China's cost for the Beijing Olympics included $1.89 billion to build the sports facilities and $40.75 billion to improve urban infrastructure, the report said.

Chinese officials were quoted as saying the country will continue its substantial investment in infrastructure even after the Games to sustain the economy's growth momentum.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.