Construction workers in Beijing. Source: AFP

The world’s second biggest economy was valued at 58.80 trillion yuan ($A10.28 trillion) currently in 2013, the National Bureau of statistics (NBS) said in a statement, quoting a survey of 70 million businesses across the country.

The amount is 1.92 trillion yuan ($A333.24 billion) more than the official figure released in January, the NBS said.

Malaysia’s GDP was $US313 billion ($A338.65 billion) last year, according to the World Bank.

Despite the revision, China’s economy is still far smaller than that of the United States, where GDP was $US16.8 trillion last year, World Bank data shows.

The change was a result of China’s third “national economic census”, which is carried out every five years and focuses on industry and services to provide up-to-date figures for government policy making.

The latest survey was conducted from the beginning of this year for three months by three million personnel, the NBS said previously.

The bureau said in a separate statement the revision “basically will not affect” the economic growth rate for this year, which is to be released next month, because the calculation is based on “comparable data”.

China’s economy grew 7.3 per cent in the third quarter, the slowest since the height of the global financial crisis in early 2009.

It is now facing multiple challenges including weakening manufacturing, falling property prices, high debt levels, and what some economists see a looming threat of deflation.

The government has set a target for growth this year at around 7.5 per cent but it is widely expected to lower the goal for next year to as low as 7.0 per cent due to slowing momentum.

China announced in January that its economy expanded by 7.7 per cent last year.

NBS officials said the growth rate could also be subject to change after revisions on figures between 2009 and 2012 are completed.

AFP