Gross Domestic Product

According to the recent stats the slowdown in China’s economy was less sharp than predicted and Beijing reports that corralling inflation remained its top priority even though a "complex and volatile" global economy clouded the outlook.

Wednesday China reported that second-quarter gross domestic product increased by 9.5% rate from the same period a year ago, outdoing the forecast 9.4% growth. However, it is still considered a slow pace since the Q3 of 2009.

According to the forecast made by a Chinese governmental researcher China’s gross domestic product will grow by 9.8% this year with inflation most likely standing at around 3.7%.

Meantime, domestic demand will become a bigger driver of the Chinese economy this year and foreign trade growth will likely slow as compared to the previous year, says the Economic Forecasting Institute of the China Academy of Sciences.

A Treasury Department report to the US Congress reveals that the US debt will reach $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015. The report was sent to the Congress last week indicating that the ratio of debt to the gross domestic product would rise to 102 percent by 2015 from 93 percent this year.

The U.K. economy shrank less than previously estimated in the third quarter as a jump in construction and fixed investment brought the longest recession on record closer to ending.

Gross domestic product fell 0.2 percent from the second quarter, compared with a previous measurement of a 0.3 percent drop, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 24 economists was for a 0.1 percent contraction. The recession has now shaved 6 percent off GDP, the statistics office said.