Investment, export drive China’s economic recovery: UN economist Growth in investment and exports as well as some other domestic factors are driving China’s economic recovery, said a UN economist. In a mid-year update of its World Economic Situation and Prospects 2021, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) revised its growth forecast for China from 7.2 percent to 8.2 percent. Hamid Rashid, the lead author of the mid-year update, attributed the upward revision to the robust investment in China in the last six months and the significant increase in merchant exports, such as electronics and electrical equipment, digital equipment and others.