China puts quake losses in Sichuan at 67 bln yuan

BEIJING (Reuters) - Direct economic losses from last week's earthquake will be about 67 billion yuan ($9.60 billion) in Sichuan province alone, China said on Monday.

The losses arose from the damage the quake inflicted on 14,207 businesses in Sichuan, according to a prepared statement to be delivered by Xi Guohua, vice minister of industry and information technology, at a news conference.

Based on 2007 estimates of gross domestic product, the direct losses amount to about 0.27 percent of China's GDP and 6.38 percent of Sichuan's.

($1=6.977 Yuan)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree)