China's economy grows 8.5% in first three quarters: report

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, October 20, 2003

China's economy grows 8.5% in first three quarters: report

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China's economy grew by 8.5 percent in the first three quarters this year, with an increase of 0.6 percentage points compared with the same period of last year, according to a government report issued Friday.

The report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the gross domestic product (GDP) of the first three quarters totaled more than 7.9 trillion yuan (about 956.6 billion US dollars).

The GDP of the third quater this year increased by 9.1 percent, 2.4 percentage points more than that of the second quarter, indicating that the economy has cast off the impact of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and resumed fast growth.

Agriculture grew stable in spite of adjustment of structure which means the sown areas of grain and sugar crops decreased and that of cotton and vegetable increased. Because of the adjustment,it was predicted that the output of grain, oil and sugar would fall this year.

According to the NBS, the industrial growth reported 4.3 percentage points more than that of the same period last year, hitting a record-high growth rate since 1995 year-on-year.

The industry completed a total added value of 2.879 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, increasing by 16.5 percent over the same period of last year.

From January to August, China's industrial enterprises achieved a total profit of 501.5 billion yuan, up 52.3 percent over the same period of last year. State-owned enterprises and state-holding enterprises also saw a profit of 253.8 billion yuan, up 66.6 percent.

The investment in capital asserts grows 30.5 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters, with a volume of more than 3.43 trillion and up 8.7 percentage points from that of the same period of last year.

The investment made by states-owned economy was 2.65 trillion, up 31.4 percent, and that made by collective and private economies was 783.9 billion, up 27.6 percent compared with the same period of last year.

Funds from companies, foreign investments and domestic loans increased faster than the funds provided by the budget, indicating the investment has become more free, says the report.

China reported an increase of 36.2 percent in imports and exports totaling 606.3 billion US dollars, in the first three quarters this year, 17.9 percentage points more than the same period last year.

In the first three quarters, exports and imports totaled 307.7 billion US dollars and 298.6 billion US dollars, up 32.3 percent and 40.5 percent respectively. Exports surpassed imports by 9.1 billion US dollars, decreasing by 10.9 billion US dollars than thesame period last year.

Over the same period, contracted foreign investment totaled 79.2 billion US dollars, up 36 percent, and direct foreign investmentin use was 40.2 billion US dollars, up 11.9 percent.

The foreign exchange reserves reached 383.9 billion US dollars by the end of September this year, up 48.4 percent over the same period last year.

In the first nine months of this year, the country's foreign exchange reserves increased by 97.5 billion dollars, or 51 billion dollars more than the same period last year.

The total volume of retail consumer goods was nearly 3.27 trillion yuan in the first three quarters this year, up 8.6 percent over the same period last year.

The growth rate was similar to that in the same period of 2002.

The report said third quarter retail sales increased by 9.7 percent, restoring to the level before the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and three percentage points higher than the previous quarter.

The urban market increased 9.8 percent, 3.4 percentage points higher than the rural market, said the report.

Sales volume of automobiles soared 77.5 percent, communication appliances went up 74 percent and sales of construction materials rose 46.6 percent.

Consumer prices for the first three quarters of the year increased 0.7 percent on a year-on-year basis. An increase in foodprices of 2.2 percent pulled the overall price up 0.7 percent, while an increase in the price of services, also 2.2 percent, added another 0.5 overall increase, said the report.

Most other prices saw a decrease, including clothing, down 2.4 percent, domestic appliances, down 2.7 percent and communication and transportation prices, down 2.1 percent, said the report.

Retail prices also fell 0.5 percent compared with last year.

Prices of industrial products saw an increase, growing 2.4 percent overall.

The growth rate for the three quarters was 3.6 percent, 2.3 percent and 1.4 percent respectively and purchasing prices for rawmaterials increased 4.5 percent, according to the report.

The per capita disposable income of China's urban residents stood at 6,347 yuan in the first three quarters of this year, up 9percent from the same period of last year, according to figures released here Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The per capita disposable income of rural population stood at 1,802 yuan (217.89 US dollars), up 3.8 percent from the same period of last year.

Increased agriculture structural adjustment, the rising price of agricultural products and the easing of farmers' financial burden enabled the rural population's income to grow.

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