About 19 provinces estimated their GDP growth rate will surpass 10 percent in 2012, higher than the expected 9 percent growth rate for China's national GDP, www.cnr.cn reported Tuesday.

Similar to the figures in 2011, the expected GDP growth rate in Western regions appeared higher than those of the Central and Eastern regions.

The highest estimated number was 15 percent from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, followed by 14 percent from Guizhou province and 13.5 percent from Chongqing municipality. The lowest came from Beijing and Shanghai at about 8 percent and from Guangdong province and Zhejiang province, which were both at 8.5 percent.

Experts warned the risk of more regional direct investment to fulfill the growth target, which may impede economic restructuring and the development of emerging industries, imposing burdens on resource consumption, said the report.

In the annual economic blue book released by the Chinese Academy of Social Science, the expansion of China's economy is to slow to 8.9 percent in 2012. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also cut its forecast for China's 2012 economic growth to 8.25 percent from the 9 percent projected in September.

Maintaining the current prudent monetary policy and proactive fiscal policy stance in 2012 was one of the goals set at China's annual Central Economic Working Conference for 2012 held last December. One suggestion was to actively slow down the economic growth rate and return to a more rational track of economic development.