Chinese economy 'is heading the right way'

China's economy is going in the right direction, but the foundations of the recovery are not yet solid, Su Ning, a vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, said today.

Su said he hoped China would be the first major economy to emerge from the global crisis.

"The overall situation is stabilising and moving in the right direction," he said.

But he cautioned that the pick-up was still not firmly anchored and expressed particular concern about the "grim" international environment for Chinese exporters as the two-year-old financial crisis continues to take a toll on global growth.

The World Bank also cited poor prospects for exports -and for private investment - when it cautioned last week that a rapid, broad-based recovery was unlikely even as it marked up its forecast for 2009 GDP growth to 7.2% from 6.5%.