International Business

China Predicts Lower Inflation: China is confident it can engineer a “soft landing” for its overheated economy, even though slower growth and lower inflation will not start to show up until next year, official forecasters said. This year China is again likely to have the world’s fastest-growing economy, with gross domestic product charging ahead at 13.5%, up from last year’s 12.8%, economists from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the State Statistical Bureau said at an annual forecasting forum, according to the official Xinhua news agency. Urban inflation this year will average a punishing 15.5%, compared to last year’s 8.6%.