China may have overtaken the US as the world's largest economy based on purchasing power, according to the Financial Times.

Citing figures in the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook released on Tuesday, .the newspaper said that this year China's purchasing-power adjusted GDP will total $17.6 trillion while the US will come in at $17.4 trillion. That GDP calculation features purchasing power parity or PPP, which utilizes exchange rates that adjust for price differences of the same goods between nations.

However, in terms of traditional GDP, which is generally defined as the total value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period in a country, the US remains far ahead of China. Based on this measurement, US GDP in 2013 was nearly $16.8 trillion while China had GDP of $9.24 trillion according to the World Bank.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com

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