Workers from TBEA Shenyang Transformer Group Co assemble equipment in a plant in Shenyang, Liaoning province. [Photo by Zhang Wenkui/For China Daily]

BEIJING - China is likely to remain the top engine of global growth in 2016 by contributing 33.2 percent of the world's economic expansion, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday.

China's economy is expected to grow by around 6.7 percent year on year in 2016, compared with the World Bank forecast of 2.4 percent for global growth, the bureau said in a statement on its website.

Data showed that China contributed 28.6 percent of global economic growth in 2011, 31.7 percent in 2012, 32.5 percent in 2013, 29.7 percent in 2014 and 30 percent in 2015 by 2010 US dollar price standards.

The United States contributed 11.8 percent of the world's growth in 2011, 20.4 percent in 2012, 15.2 percent in 2013, 19.6 percent in 2014, and 21.9 percent in 2015 -- much smaller than China's contributions.

In recent years, developed economies such as the European Union, the United States and Japan have played a less important role in terms of driving global economic growth.

Countries including Brazil and Russia have not stepped out of recession. Despite fast economic growth, India has not become a key engine of global growth due to its relatively small economy.

As China adapts to a "new normal" of moderate-to-high growth, it has tried to shift from an export- and investment-driven economy to one that is more sustainable and draws strength from consumption, services and innovation.

Despite a slowdown in China's economic growth in recent years, it remains among the fastest in the world.

The government set an annual growth target of between 6.5 and 7 percent for 2016. In the first three quarters of last year, the economy expanded 6.7 percent year on year.