China's economy will follow a "U" curve this year, slowing down in the second quarter, picking up speed in the third quarter and accelerating in the fourth quarter, Yao said, predicting that investment, consumption and export, the three major contributors, would maintain last year's performance representing their contributions to aggregate economic growth.

　　China's robust industrial output growth still remained strong, contributing 5.8 percentage points to the growth rate of the country's GDP in the first half year.

　　The value added output from Chinese large industrial enterprises in the first half year totaled 1836.3 billion yuan (about 229.5 billion US dollars), 16.2 percent more than the same period last year.

　　The growth rate of the value added output from Chinese large industrial enterprises also recorded an increase of 4.5 percentage points, the fastest growth for the period since 1994.

　　The contract value of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first half year reached 51 billion US dollars, 40.3 percent higher than the same period of last year, and the actual FDI was valued at 30.3 billion US dollars, 34.3 percent more than the first half of last year.

　　Investment and exports will maintain strong growth momentum, Yao said, noting the impact of SARS on exports may become visible in the second half of this year, but will not last through the end of this year.

　　In addition, sluggish consumer demand will improve to push forward economic growth as a whole, Yao predicted. End