A recovery in China – fueled largely by the country's huge economic stimulus package – is likely to begin this year and take full hold in 2010. The latest East Asia and Pacific Update by the World Bank says this will potentially contribute to the region's stabilization, and perhaps recovery.

Last month, in its China Quarterly Update, the World Bank downgraded its forecast for China's growth to 6.5 percent this year from 13 percent in 2007.

In the face of much weaker exports and a slowing down in domestic demand, the World Bank is forecasting that real GDP growth in developing East Asia will reach only 5.3 percent in 2009, down from 8 percent in 2008 and 11.4 percent in 2007.

With China still heavily reliant on exports to world markets that continue to contract, the Update warns that a truly sustainable recovery in the East Asia and Pacific region ultimately depends on developments in the advanced economies.

By People's Daily Online