GDP growth CHINESE experts say that China’s GDP growth may reach 6.9 percent in 2017. The country’s economy expanded by 6.9 percent in the first two quarters of 2017 and slowed slightly to 6.8 percent in the third quarter. Overall growth for the first three quarters was 6.9 percent, above the government’s annual target at around 6.5 percent. The World Bank last month raised its forecast for China’s economic growth in 2017 to 6.8 percent, up from the 6.7 percent it projected in October, citing stronger personal consumption and foreign trade. FAW new models THE Sino-German auto joint venture FAW-Volkswagen will introduce nine new models this year to help meet its annual sales target of 2.1 million units. The new models include the Audi Q2, Q5 and two Volkswagen-brand SUVs. The clean-energy and electric vehicles will go into production this year. By 2020, the automaker will introduce 10 clean-energy car models. Games revenue MOBILE games revenue in the Chinese market in 2017 reached US$14.6 billion, beating the United States market, which recorded US$7.7 billion revenue, according to a white paper released on the China Digital Entertainment Industry Annual Summit. China’s gaming industry leader Tencent saw its online games revenue in the third quarter of 2017 grow by 48 percent to 26.8 billion yuan (US$ 4.14 billion), which reflected contributions from smartphone games. Another major player NetEase reported a net revenue of 8.11 billion yuan in the third quarter, up by 23.5 percent year on year, according to tech.163.com, NetEase’s online news portal. |