CHINA

Economy Grows at a Nice Clip: Despite devastating floods and troubled state-run industries, the economy grew at a healthy 6.1% in the first half of 1991 and is on pace to reach a higher annual gross national product than 1990. GNP, the value of goods and services, registered a meek 2.1% gain over the first six months of 1990. The economy in 1990 was hampered by economic sanctions imposed by Western governments and Japan after Beijing cracked down on pro-democracy dissidents in 1989. The good economic news came despite floods in the eastern part of the country in recent months that have turned fields into lakes, killing more than 1,700 people and causing more than $7.5 billion in damage.