China's GDP Grows 7.6 Percent in First Quarter

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, April 18, 2002

China's GDP Grows 7.6 Percent in First Quarter

Latest statistics show that China 's GDP in the first quarter of this year reached 2,102 billion yuan (about 254 billion U.S. dollars), an year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent.

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Latest statistics show that China's GDP in the first quarter of this year reached 2,102 billion yuan (about 254 billion U.S. dollars), an year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent.

Although the increase rate is 0.5 percentage points lower than that of the same period last year, it is still 0.3 percentage points higher than that of last year as a whole.

Qiu Xiaohua, deputy head of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said at a press briefing at the State Council Information Office on Wednesday morning the good start in the first quarter would lay a solid base for the country to achieve its set GDP goal for the whole year.

According to Qiu, during the first quarter, primary industry rose to 159.2 billion yuan (about 19.23 billion U.S. dollars), up 3.3 percent; secondary industry soared 9.3 percent to about 1.1552 trillion yuan (about 139.54 billion U.S. dollars); and tertiary industry increased to 787.7 billion yuan (about 95.17 billion U.S. dollars), an increase of 6.2 percent.

China's exports and imports volume during January-March totaled 122.1 billion U.S. dollars, a rise of 7.7 percent over the same period last year. The exports sector increased 9.9 percent to 64.7 billion U.S. dollars while the imports sector rose 5.2 percent to 57.4 billion U.S. dollars

China utilized 10.1 billion U.S. dollars of foreign direct investment in the first three months of 2002, an increase of 27.5 percent on a year-on-year base and up 15.8 percentage points.

Qiu noted in the press briefing that the Chinese government would continue to strengthen the economic restructure and take steps to expand domestic demand as well as overseas markets. Thus he believed China's economy would grow quickly in the first half-year.

China's Fixed Asset Investments Grow Faster in 1st Quarter

According to Qiu, China's fixed asset investments (FAI) in the first quarter of this year hit 467.2 billion yuan (56.4 billion U.S. dollars), a year-on-year rise of 19.6 percent, with the growth rate up 7.2 percentage points. During January-March, the FAI of state-owned and other economic sectors reached 304.9 billion yuan (about 36.84 billion U.S. dollars), up 25.1 percent; that of the collective sectors rose 12.6 percent to 71.7 billion yuan (about 8.66 billion U.S. dollars); and that of individuals grew 9.1 percent to 90.7 billion yuan (about 10.96 billion U.S. dollars).

The FAI in construction increased 20.6 percent, while that of the real estate sector soared 36.2 percent. Both growth rates were higher than for the same period last year, said Qiu.

In the primary industry sector, the FAI increased 11.7 percent, totaling 9.5 billion yuan (about 1.15 billion U.S. dollars); that of the secondary industry reached 101.8 billion yuan (about 12.3 billion U.S. dollars), soaring 24.9 percent; and that of the tertiary industry hit 215.1 billion yuan (about 26 billion U.S. dollars), a growth rate of 27.4 percent.

According to Qiu, the increase of state treasure bonds, the unusual warm winter, the fall in the interest rate for deposits and savings in banks and growing confidence among foreign investors towards China's economy all contributed to the FAI increase.

Chinese Residents' Income Soars in 1st Quarter

Chinese residents' income grew rapidly in the first quarter of this year. The per-capita income of urban residents soared to 2,126 yuan, a leap of 16.2 percent on a year-on-year basis, Qiu told the press briefing.

Qiu attributed the reason to the effects of a wage raise in many sectors last year.

Due to the increased sales of agricultural products, the per-capita income of rural residents grew by 7.2 percent to 682 yuan, Qiu said.

During the first three months of the year, the total savings deposits of both urban and rural residents had climbed 505.1 billion yuan (about 61.02 billion US dollars) from the beginning of the year to some 7.8728 trillion yuan (951.14 billion US dollars), said Qiu, adding that the figure was some 380 times that of the 1978 figure of 20.6 billion yuan (about 2.49 billion U.S. dollars).

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