A senior official with the World Bank (WB) predicts that China's economy will grow at an annual rate of six to seven percent in the next two decades.

Yukon Huang, country director of the World Bank's China Program, said Thursday in an exclusive interview with Xinhua that China will keep an upbeat growth momentum for 20 years, and its gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to rank second in the world by 2020, just behind the United States.

The people's living standard will be similar to the level of Portugal if China continues its present growth rate, he said.

China's economy witnessed rapid growth of nine to ten percent annually over the past two decades.

Two decades ago, 70 percent of the country's population lived in rural areas, but the figure has now dropped to 50 percent, Huang said, adding that in the coming twenty years, it will drop to around 20 percent.

That means a large number of rural laborers will migrate to urban areas and work in service sector. As a result, the service sector's contribution to GDP growth will be much higher, Huang pointed out.

However, China still has to face a series of problems such as the reform of the pension fund system, unemployment and environmental protection.

(Xinhua 11/02/2000)