China's economic growth is set tomoderate slightly over the next two years but will exceed 8 percent, on the back of strong investment, rising private consumption and a more stable global economy, the Asian DevelopmentBank (ABD) said Wednesday.

In its annual economic report released at a press conference inBeijing, Paul J. Heytens, ADB Country Director for China, saidChina's GDP growth in 2012 is forecast at 8.5 percent, with thepriority of macro policy expected to shift from fighting inflationto stabilizing growth.

Supported by stronger global growth momentum, China's economy islikely to expand by 8.7 percent in 2013, according to the ADBreport.

The ADB expected China's exports and imports to increase byaround 15 percent and 18 percent in 2012, respectively. Thecontribution of net exports to GDP growth is projected to remainnegative, and the trade surplus will continue narrowing, itsaid.

China has aimed to increase the volume of total exports andimports by around 10 percent year-on-year in 2012, a sharp slowdownfrom last year when China's imports and exports rose 22.5 percentyear-on-year to 3.64 trillion U.S. dollars.

Nominal private consumption is expected to grow by almost 12percent in

both 2012 and 2013, boosted by continued employment and wagegrowth

as well as increased government social expenditure, according tothe ADB report.

China's economy expanded by 9.2 percent in 2011 to 47.16trillion yuan (about 7.49 trillion U.S. dollars) from a yearearlier when it grew 10.4 percent in 2010. Enditem