China Overtakes Japan as World's Second-Largest Economy

China is now the world's second-largest economy, having overtaken Japan, a senior Chinese official said.

Yi Gang, the country's chief currency regulator, mentioned the achievement in comments published on the website of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, Reuters reported.

"China, in fact, is now already the world's second-largest economy," he said.

China could even overtake the United States as the world's biggest economy in the next 20 years, according to forecasts by the World Bank and Goldman Sachs.

Still, China's annual per-capita income is a mere $3,800, way below that of Japan and the United States.

"China is still a developing country," Yi said.