China revises 2004 GDP — up 16.8 per cent
Beijing: China has raised its estimate of the national GDP for 2004 by 16.8 per cent, saying that there was a much bigger contribution from the service sector.

The announcement comes at the end of a year-long survey, aimed at gaining a more accurate picture of the world's fastest growing major economy. The results suggest an economy in better shape than previously thought.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) raised China's GDP for last year to 15.99 trillion yuan from the previous 13.65 trillion. According to analysts, based on growth and dollar exchange rates this year, China is likely to end 2005 as the world's fourth largest economy, behind the US, Japan and Germany, but ahead of the UK and France.

For institutional investors the announcement has implications, for if they believe that China is bigger and growing stronger than before, it will impact fund flows into the region.

The NBS said that the bulk of the revision comes from the services sector, which accounted for 2.1 trillion yuan of last year's 2.3 trillion yuan upgrade, or 40.7 per cent of GDP, compared with the previous 31.9 per cent.
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Toyota says sales to rise 9 per cent next year
Toyota City, Japan: Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest automaker by market value, has said that it expects vehicle sales to rise 9 per cent in 2006 on the back of new models and a rise in demand in the U.S., Asia and Europe.

President Katsuaki Watanabe, 63, said that the company is expanding production in North America, Russia and China to boost global market share to 15 per cent in the next decade from its current 12 per cent. The Toyota City, Japan-based carmaker also expects a fourth consecutive fiscal year of record profit.

Toyota, which overtook Ford as the world's second-largest carmaker by sales in 2003, is slowly closing the gap with GM. Toyota on Nov. 4 raised its global sales forecast to 8.03 million units for the year ending in March 2006, up 8.4 per cent from a year earlier. Last year, GM sold 8.99 million.

Toyota shares, which have gained 38 per cent this year, rose to a record on Dec. 5, giving the company a market value more than 14 times the size of General Motors.
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Italy's central bank chief, Fazio, finally quits over fraud inquiry
Rome: Antonio Fazio, governor of the Bank of Italy, has finally resigned bowing to several months of media and political pressure during which he steadfastly refused to resign.

The resignation preempted the embarrassment likely to be caused by having the central bank sack him at a board meeting to be held today. In a brief statement, Fazio claimed that "the decision was taken independently, with a clear conscience, so as to bring back serenity to the country and the Bank of Italy".

Fazio had been under attack for a long time regarding a scandal over the central banker's allegedly improper role in takeover battles for Italian banks. His position had become untenable after it emerged last week that he was being investigated by Milan prosecutors for suspected insider trading as part of a wider inquiry into allegations of rampant fraud at Banca Popolare Italiana.

News of the inquiry led to the economy minister Giulio Tremonti threatening to introduce legislation before Christmas aimed at forcing him to quit.
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