The Unforgettable Year of 1998 ����This report is written by Our Staff Reporters Fei Weiwei and Shi Mingshen on reviewing economic development and reform in 1998.The report runs in part as follows: ����In the unusual year of 1998, China stood up to the strong impact of the Asian financial crisis and conquered the devastating north and south floods, thus maintaining sustained economic growth. ����On December 30, 1998, the State Statistics Bureau announced that China had basically achieved the 1998 target of economic growth, with the growth of GDP being estimated to be 7.8 percent. Each percentage point of growth embodies the firm conviction of the Chinese people in overcoming difficulties and the great wisdom and courage of the Party Central Committee with General Secretary Jiang Zemin at the core.. ����Just as the Chinese people were waging a hard struggle against the financial storm, there suddenly came the onslaught of the worst floodwaters. ����With great foresight, the Party Central Committee and State Council leaders calmly faced the dangerous situation, determinedly made scientific decisions and successfully coped with the general situation by taking a series of major measures. ����Although these measures were quite effective, the Asian financial crisis, however, further worsened, its influence became more serious than expected in the early year. In the middle of the year, the exchange rate of the yen to the US dollar fell to a record low in a period of 10 years, triggering off a new round of financial shock wave; China's export saw a negative growth for the first time after 22 successive months of growth; the severe flood disaster came unexpectedly. In mid-July, the Party Central Committee and the State Council, having made an assessment of the situation, resolutely adopted more effective measures, implemented an active financial policy, intensified infrastructure construction and expanded domestic demand. ����The series of policy measures adopted to expand domestic need have laid a solid foundation for bringing about sustained economic growth. Economic growth had steadily picked up since the third quarter. ����It is worth mentioning that keeping the Renminbi from devaluing has played an important role in alleviating the Asian financial crisis. But China has paid a great price for this, demonstrating the broad mind of China as a responsible big country. ����At the critical juncture of the worrying flooding situation in north and south China, Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin, NPC Standing Committee Chairman Li Peng, Premier Zhu Rongji and other top Party and state leaders repeatedly appeared on the frontline to direct the anti-flood struggle; 270,000 officers and soldiers, 8 million cadres and masses at large fought day and night at the forefront. The fact that a hundred million people were mobilized to engage in the flood fight was unprecedented in China as well as in the world as a whole. ����During his inspection tours of Shanxi and Inner Mongolia, Premier Zhu Rongji, basing himself on the established policy of the Party Central Committee, reiterated: Under the present situation of money deflation, the Party Central Committee has decided to adopt a more active financial policy, raise more funds and further increase infrastructure construction. This is the most effective measure taken to expand domestic demand. This active financial policy is a short-term policy measure directed against the negative effect of the Asian financial crisis and the shortfall of domestic needs. ���� HomeNews 1999-01-14 Page1 Full Story in Chinese