Beijing: China’s economy grew by 7.6 percent during the first three months of 2002, beating even the most optimistic forecasts, Finance Minister Xiang Huiachang said on Wednesday. The rise in exports and the relatively high level of public spending on major infrastructure works helped push the quarterly result above the 7.5 percent predicted by Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and even the more "realistic" expectations of 7.3 percent. But Xiang cautioned that the Chinese government could not go on indefinitely shelling out for big ticket public works projects such as the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze Rive or a railroad line into Tibet. The new figure was especially welcomed by the government, coming as it does on the heels of the fourth quarter of 2001 when GDP growth,though an enviable 6.6 percent, was the lowest for the past two years. Authorities have set a target of 7.0 percent growth for this year.