UN agency's forecast says nation's economy likely to overtake Japan

BEIJING - The Chinese economy will grow by 9.5 percent this year, helping it overtake Japan as the world's second-largest economy, but the risk of an asset bubble remains a serious challenge for the country, a report from a United Nations agency said on Thursday.

The report also warned Asian countries of the risks brought by short-term capital inflows, which was echoed by a leading Chinese foreign exchange official, who vowed to beef up monitoring of cross-border capital inflow to ward off potential asset bubbles.