Tokyo, Jan 20 (IANS): Official data from China showed Monday that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 2.3 per cent year on year in 2020.

The country is expected to be the only major economy to post growth in the pandemic-ravaged year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Xinhua news agency reported.

"China's GDP growth in 2020 is higher than I expected. In the fourth quarter, in particular, consumption recovered smoothly and economic growth momentum was quite strong," said Kiyoyuki Seguchi, research director at Japan's Canon Institute for Global Studies.

"The growth of China's economy is playing an even bigger and stronger role in driving the world economy," Seguchi said, predicting that China would still be a huge boost to the world economy in the future, which also benefits Japanese companies' production and exports.

The latest World Economic Outlook report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicts that China will contribute more than one-third of global economic growth in 2021.

Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected the Chinese economy to expand by 7.9 percent in 2021 as economic activities continued to normalize and domestic COVID-19 outbreaks remain under control.