Report: China to Overtake US Economy This Year

BEIJING (AP) — China has rejected a World Bank report that suggests it might pass the United States this year to become the biggest economy measured by its currency's purchasing power.

China is on track to become the No. 1 economy by sheer size by the early 2020s and possibly sooner. But its leaders downplay such comparisons, possibly to avert pressure to take on financial obligations or make concessions on trade or climate change.

The estimate by the World Bank's International Comparison Program says that based on 2011 prices, the purchasing power of China's currency, the yuan, was much stronger than was reflected by exchange rates.

By that measure, China's economy was 87% the size of the United States' in 2011, or 15% bigger than the previous estimate, according to a calculation by RBS economist Louis Kuijs. Faster-growing China would pass the United States in purchasing power terms this year, though it still would be about 60% the size of the U.S. economy at market exchange rates.

China's National Bureau of Statistics, which took part in the study, rejected its conclusion, according to the World Bank report.

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