Retail Sales Go up 8.5% in the First Two Month of 2002

Home>>Business

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 15, 2002

Retail Sales Go up 8.5% in the First Two Month of 2002

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Retail sales increase

China's retail sales of consumer goods grew 8.5 per cent year-on-year to 692.1 billion yuan (US$83.4 billion) during the first two months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

Retail sales in January grew a year-on-year 7.9 per cent, while sales in February - when Spring Festival fell this year - rose a year-on-year 9.1 per cent, the bureau said.

The bureau added that retail sales in urban areas rose 9.3 per cent in the first two months to 435.9 billion yuan (US$52.5 billion), while sales in counties and areas at lower administrative levels grew 7 per cent to 256.1 billion yuan (US$30.8 billion).

Economist Hu Shaowei of the State Information Centre said the growth rate of retail sales was somewhat lower than what he had expected, mainly because people have been waiting for further price cuts in the wake of China's accession to the World Trade Organization.

But Hu said that the macroeconomic environment this year will be favourable for the further development of the country's consumer-goods market.

Proactive fiscal policy and monetary policy

The central government has already announced that it will continue to implement a proactive fiscal policy and a steady monetary policy in 2002.

Premier Zhu Rongji last week announced that China would issue 150 billion yuan (US$18 billion) in treasury bonds this year.

Hu said: "This will provide an improved environment for the further growth of the consumer-goods market."

The measures taken last year to raise the salary of government employees, provide compensation for laid-off workers and increase pensions for retirees will also help improve people's income levels, which will help stimulate consumption, he said.

Zhang Xueying, another economist at the centre, said that sales of housing and cars have performed relatively well.

More individuals have begun to buy homes of their own because of the country's housing reform.

The accelerated pace of housing privatization has also given rise to the consumption of related products such as furniture and home appliances, Zhang said.

More people have also begun to buy their own cars since prices started dropping after China joined the WTO, he said.

Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics suggest that the retail sales of cars grew a year-on-year 21.1 per cent during the first two months of this year.

Hu said China's retail sales will rise by about 10 per cent in 2002.

China's Retail Sales of Consumer Goods to Soar 10 % Next Year

China's total retail sales volume of consumer goods will soar 10 percent in 2002, and price rises will be lower than they were this year, according to sources with the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC).

According to a report issued by the SETC, the volume of retail sales of consumer goods totaled 3.757 trillion yuan (about 453.9 billion U.S. dollars ) this year, 10 percent up from last year's figure, and the growth rate was 0.3 percentage points up.

Questions?Comments? Click here

China's Retail Sales Up 11 Percent in May

China's Retail Sales Up in August

China's Retail Sales of Consumer Goods to Soar 10 Percent Next Year