China's economy posted a growth rate of 9.69 percent in the first half of this year, according to the updated statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

This is a minor revision of a preliminary figure that put Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth at 9.66 percent.

According to the revised statistics, China's GDP in the first six totals 5,878.8 billion yuan (US$708.3 billion), or 1.5 billion yuan (US$181 million) more than the preliminary figure.

The NBS explained readjustment in communications, transportation, warehouse, post, and other service industries raised the tertiary industry growth rate by 0.1 percentage point, or 1.5 billion yuan, in the first half of this year. Other industries showed no changes.

Beginning last year, NBS has been trying to reform the way that China's GDP is accounted and released in an attempt to make its GDP figures more objective, truly reflect China's economic development and increase transparency and credibility.

Compared with traditional practices, the regulation changed the original quarterly GDP accounting to three steps: preliminary accounting, preliminary check and final check.

Prior to this revision, the NBS has changed its quarterly GDP data for several times, including that on May 17, which lifted China's first quarter GDP growth rate from the preliminary 9.7 percent to 9.8 percent.

Statistics show that China's economy grew at a rate of 9.1 percent last year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2004)