Bank cuts GDP growth forecast to 7.7%

Bank of America Merrill Lynch on Monday downgraded its 2012 annual GDP growth forecast for China to 7.7 percent from 8 percent.

The bank also lowered China’s economic growth forecast in the third quarter from 8 percent to 7.4 percent, and from 8.3 percent to 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter.

The downgrade is due to concerns including limited room for China to further ease monetary policy, the government’s growing sensitiveness to the real estate rebound, and the deteriorating prospect of economic growth in developed economies, the bank said in a report.

The bank also lowered its 2013 annual GDP growth forecast for China to 7.6 percent from 8 percent. on Monday. That’s equivalent to as much as 9.2 million barrels a day. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, or Sinopec, and PetroChina Co, the nation’s top refiners, plan to process a combined 30 million tons in August, up 1.6 percent compared with July, it said.

Sinopec will refine about 18 million tons, up 2 percent, and PetroChina is scheduled to process around 12 million tons, 1.1 percent more, the Shandong-based industry website said. Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co ended maintenance in July, boosting volume this month, according to Oilchem.

China refined 37.6 million tons of crude in July, up 1.1 percent from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. to sell 15 billion yuan of five-year securities on Aug 20, it said in a statement in the same newspaper, which is published by the People’s Bank of China.

Exim Bank sold 30 billion yuan of seven-year bonds with a 3.71 percent coupon in June, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.