China is world's 4th-largest economy - World Bank
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-07-03 18:32
China has squeaked by Britain by the tiniest of margins to become the world's
fourth-largest economy, according to the World Bank's latest calculations.
The World Bank said that by its official measure China produced US$2.263825
trillion in output in 2005. That was just US$94 million, or 0.004 percent, more
than Britain.
China comfortably overtook Britain last year based on each country's gross
domestic product converted into US dollars at current exchange rates.
But the World Bank's widely watched ranking measures gross national income
converted into dollars using the "Atlas" method of currency conversion, which
smoothes out exchange rate fluctuations by using a three-year average.
Gross national income comprises gross domestic product plus net inflows of
income such as rents, profits and salaries from abroad.
The United States, Japan and Germany remain the world's first-, second- and
third-largest economies, respectively, according to the World Bank, which posted
its 2005 rankings at the weekend on its Web site (www.worldbank.org).
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