China's economy expected to grow 8.2% in 2012

China's economy is expected to expand at 8.2% in 2012 and 8.6% in 2013 as domestic demand will continue to boost the world's second-largest economy amid weak external demand, the World Bank (WB) said Thursday. "The Chinese economy is in the midst of a gradual slowdown," the WB said in its China Quarterly Update released on Thursday, expecting cyclical weakness to dominate the country's near-term outlook. The WB's projection about China's economic outlook was 0.3 percentage points lower than what the Asian Development Bank forecast on Wednesday, according to (Xinhua) news agency. The WB projected domestic demand will contribute 8.4 percentage points to China's growth in 2012 as consumption growth slows slightly partly due to base effects and investment growth decelerates rather sharply. Meanwhile, as world trade is anticipated to remain weak, external demand will subtract some 0.3 percentage points from growth. The projected rebound remains modest as these trends are likely to weigh on 2013 as well, the WB said in its report. Inflation looks to rise by 3.2% in China in 2012, as growth slows, commodity-price impulses fade and property markets cool further, the WB said.