China expected to overtake U.S. as world`s largest economy

The United States will likely lose its status as the world`s largest economy to China this year, 142 years after taking the top position by surpassing Britain, a major British daily reported Wednesday. The report advances China`s ascension to the top status five years sooner than widely anticipated.

The World Bank`s International Comparison Program (ICP), the most authoritative agency in comparative study on economy, said at its new report that China`s gross domestic product was at 86.9 percent of that of the United States, more than double from 2005, when the first survey took place. The ICP used GDP figures based on purchasing power parity (PPP), or the estimates of the real cost of living without using volatile exchange rates.

Citing the world’s leading statistical agencies, the Financial Times reported that China will overtake the U.S. to become the world`s largest economy this year, based on the International Monetary Fund`s (IMF) estimation of U.S. GDP and China`s. As the IMF expects the U.S. economy to have grown by 7.6 percent between 2011 and 2014, while China is forecast to expand by 24 percent, Chin`s rise to the top is likely this year, the daily reported.

Based on this measure, South Korea is expected to be the world`s 14th largest-economy, while India will likely pass Japan as the third largest. Indonesia and Mexico are predicted to be the 10th and 12th largest economy, respectively.