China central bank sees 2016 growth at 6.8 pct

China's central bank projected its baseline forecast for 2016 growth at 6.8 percent on Wednesday, as it expects the number of positive factors to gradually increase despite downward pressure on the economy. The rate is slightly lower than the central bank's forecast of 6.9-percent expansion for 2015, according to a working paper by the People's Bank of China. Citing overcapacity, profit deceleration, rising non-performing loans as major drags on the economy, the paper said supportive factors such as the recovery of real estate sales, lagged impact of macro and structural policies and some modest improvement in external demand would help underpin broader growth. For next year, the central bank predicted consumer price index inflation at 1.7 percent and the current account surplus at 2.8 percent of GDP.