China Vows to Hit 9% Growth in Retail Sales

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, August 21, 2003

China Vows to Hit 9% Growth in Retail Sales

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A senior Chinese trade official said on Wednesday that China in the second half of this year will try to revitalize its domestic market to hit the target of nine-percent growth in the total volume of retail sales.

Zhang Zhigang, vice-minister of commerce, said at a launching ceremony of a national promotion campaign that the Chinese economy maintained a sound momentum despite the SARS epidemic in the first six months of this year.

But the epidemic held back the growth of consumption and was a blow to the tertiary industry, including tourism, transportation and catering, Zhang said.

Domestic consumption played a more direct and stable role in boosting the economy, Zhang said, noting that the expansion of consumption will spur investment and stimulate economic growth.

Investment and consumption contributed four and three percentage points respectively to the eight-percent growth rate of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2002, Zhang said.

The vice-minister said that consumption could contribute more to the country's economic growth due to the current low consumption-GDP ratio.

"Consumption accounts for about 60 percent of the Chinese GDP so far, while the average ratio worldwide is 78 percent. In the United States and Europe, the rate exceeds 80 percent," he said.

Zhang said seven hot growth points were emerging in China, namely, housing, automobiles, telecommunications and Internet services, education, tourism, health care and personal services.

Zhang urged Chinese manufacturers and retailers to follow and study those new trends, innovate management and tap the market potential.

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