SHANGHAI, Nov. 1 (Xinhua)-- HSBC has raised its forecast of China's GDP growth this year to 8.1 percent, said HSBC Group Chairman Stephen Green here Sunday.

    The bank's previous forecast was 7.8 percent.

    While attending the annual International Business Leaders' Advisory Council (IBLAC), Green said the world financial crisis has not derailed either of the two most noteworthy and transformative trends in global finance: "the rise of China and the shift from west to east."

    He also expected effects of China's stimulus packages would further lift the country's GDP growth and sustain the recovery momentum into 2010.

    Green said Shanghai, as China's largest city, had kept a relatively stable growth during the crisis, which suggested it had the potential to become one of the world's financial centers comparable to New York or London.