A wood processing worker performs tasks at a smart factory in Liangping, Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. With smart manufacturing being used in processes like edge banding and drilling, production efficiency has been largely improved. Photo: IC

The World Bank has forecast that China's economic growth will be 6.1 percent in 2019 and 5.9 percent in 2020, which tracks with the latest assessment by a Chinese research institute.

The World Bank released its China Economic Update in Beijing on Thursday, with a forecast that China's GDP will expand 5.9 percent in 2020 and 5.8 percent in 2021, given the influence of internal and external factors.

The report argues that China's economy remains relatively resilient on the back of strong growth in real disposable income, with looser policy dynamics helping mitigate some pressure internally and externally. 

Meanwhile, the world economy still faces many challenges, with external risks to the Chinese economy stemming mainly from a larger-than-expected slowdown in major economies, particularly in Europe.

The latest estimate by the World Bank is in line with that of the Institute of Economic Research of Renmin University of China on Wednesday, which predicted that the GDP growth rate in 2020 will fall within a range of 5.5-6 percent.

Economic growth within that range is good enough to ensure the basic stability of employment, while 5.8 percent is an ideal state, the report said.

China's GDP in the first three quarters of 2019 totaled 69.7 trillion yuan ($9.8 trillion), up 6.2 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

An economic slowdown has led to discussion among Chinese economists over whether China should maintain a growth rate target of 6 percent in 2020.

Tian Yun, a vice director of the Beijing Economic Operation Association, told the Global Times on Thursday that statistically speaking, it's possible to achieve the predicted target.

"The total figure for 2018 was nearly 92 trillion yuan after adjustment. According to current calculations, the actual economic growth rate next year does not need to be 6 percent, but about 5.8 percent would be enough to achieve the goal of achieving a moderately prosperous society," Tian said.

To achieve this target, the government must optimize the business environment for its private enterprises, which contribute a major portion of GDP growth, Tian said.

By the end of 2018, private enterprises accounted for 84.1 percent of all corporate units in China, while the number of state-owned enterprises accounted for only 1.3 percent of the total, according to the fourth national economic census report released by the NBS in November. Private companies have become a major contributor to economic growth.

"To me, it's not the figure of 6 percent that we should guarantee, but the confidence of private enterprises in China's economic development," he said.