China's economy, the world's second largest,is showing signs of a rebound that could help it emerge from its worst economic period in l3 years. According to the latest government figures,growth picked up to 7.9%in the final three months of 2012.from 7.4%in the previous quarter.This was driven by state investment in infrastructure(,)projects and efforts to get consumers and companies to spend. Economic stability is seen as vital for China as its new leaders take over "It is obvious that the slowdown in the Chinese economy has _ for the moment."said Fraser Howie,an economist and co-author of Red Capitalism. "But one has to be mindful that any recovery will be limited in its scope,because of the various difficult and unexpected problems that China is facing,"he added. "The new leaders,who take charge in March,will now have to find the right balance between trying to prevent the formation of a property bubble and keeping a healthy growth rate going."  That may prove tricky, especially because China's economic growth has slowed significantly from the highs of previous years,and analysts warn that state stimulus measures may decrease. On Friday,the statistical office reported that GDP...the Gross Domestic Product, the main measure of growth.increased by 7.8%in 2012, down from 9.3%in 2011.That was the slowest annual rate of growth since l 999.But it is still way above the weak growth rates experienced by most other major economies last year.Figures for the US,the world's largest economy,and Japan,the third largest.are expected to show growth of about 2%.The l7 members of the euro zone are collectively expected to contract by about 0.4% China's economy growth in the final three months of 2012 is  _  more than that in the previous quarter.
0.5% 7.4% 7.9% 0.7%