金融英语阅读：E-commerce set for rapid growth

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　　E-commerce, dubbed as the "new engine" of growth, is helping China sustain its foreign trade at a time when the nation's exports and imports have been decelerating for months, said Vice-minister of Commerce Jiang Yaoping.
: p4 y8 |5 ~1 |4 m% B# `6 K　　During a press conference on China's E-commerce Report 2008-2009, he said China's e-commerce industry will grow "at a high speed" in the coming years and the nation is soon expected to overtake Japan as the world's third-largest nation in terms of value of e-commerce transactions, given that e-commerce is gaining recognition nationwide.
　　"Besides helping enterprises tap new markets, reduce costs and cope with the financial crisis, e-commerce also plays a bigger role in assisting China to stabilize exports and stimulate domestic demand," said Jiang.
- N" H# o6 d  N0 u$ ]' I$ ?　　While demand from developed regions such as North America, European Union, Japan and South Korea remains sluggish amid a weak global economic recovery, he said China's manufacturers and exporters are shifting to emerging markets such as the Middle East and Latin America to tap into new growth via e-commerce.
　　China's export growth eased off for three consecutive months since May and imports saw a decline for five straight months. However, the slowdown would be sustained in the coming months of the year, said a spokesperson from the Ministry of Commerce.
　　China's e-commerce has grown rapidly during the financial crisis. In 2008, Internet sales grew by 44.8 percent from a year earlier to 3.14 trillion yuan ($461 billion), and in 2009, it rose to 3.83 trillion yuan with a 21.7 percent growth, according to the report released by the ministry.
! b% S* \8 R( E! C) p1 h　　E-commerce growth accelerated in the first half of this year. E-commerce transactions reached 2.25 trillion yuan between January and June this year, said a recent report by China e-Business Research Center.
　　The State Council Information Center predicted recently the nation's e-commerce industry is expected to "register average annual growth rate of above 35 percent in the next few years".
- V4 U2 h( C* b, W+ M　　Although e-commerce transactions are expected to grow further, they are not expected to surpass the 2008 levels, Jiang said.
9 F0 j2 a: _/ D4 n+ f* |　　In 2009, China was ranked fourth in terms of market share in global e-commerce, behind the EU, US and Japan.
0 D& h. T, V" i# U" e, D; {8 N　　With more Chinese especially those from the rural areas learning to shop online and exposed to the local e-commerce market, China is likely to surpass Japan as the third largest e-commerce market worldwide in the near future, Jiang said.