Growth Model Transformation the Major Task for China: World Bank Chief

TIANJIN, Sep. 16 -- China's tightening measures on the property market will not throw a major impact on the country's economic growth, Ma Jiantang, director of China' Bureau of Statistics, said Wednesday at the ongoing fourth Summer Davos forum in Tianjin.

The judgement was made based on the fact that property sector accounted for only a small share of the country's economy, and it is still growing even after the government has adapted tightening policies over the market, he said.

China's real estate investment accounts for 20 percent of the country's total investment, and the sector takes up a small share of the China's GDP, said Ma.

According to Ma, investment in the sector surged some 37 percent in August from a year earlier, and real estate sales grew 6 percent year on year in the first eight months of 2010 after the government adopted tough measures to curb excessive growth in the housing market this year.

It is an exaggeration to claim that the overheating property sector would cause a collapse of China's economy, said Xia Bin, a member of the monetary policy committee of the People's Bank of China, the central bank.

China is still witnessing a high economic growth and has already noticed the problem and taken actions, Xia said.

Based on China's complicated economic condition and difficulties in its economic restructuring, it may take two to three years for China to finish the property regulation, Xia said.