That is down from a forecast of 8.8 percent at the beginning of the quarter.

That is down from a forecast of 16.6 percent on July 1.

At a news conference, the government said that its forecasts of 10 percent for the second quarter were far off.

On average for the years 1981 through 1988, real growth, at 2.3 percent, has exceeded our forecast of 2.1 percent.

He said the inflation rate for all of 1988 would be "slightly less" than the Administration's forecast of 4 percent.

Next year, the council said it expected the economy to grow by 2.9 percent, down from its earlier forecast of 3.3 percent.

They also project growth to be 2.5 percent next year, compared with last December's forecast of 1.75 percent.

He said the Chinese leaders were sticking to their forecast of 8 percent economic growth in 1998.

The figure brought the annual inflation rate to 13.5 percent, well above the official forecast of 8 percent.

Developing countries will grow 5.4 percent, down from a forecast of 6.2 percent in June, the bank said.