China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on October 19 that the Chinese economy has stopped slowing down and will see a seven percent growth this year before going further for a higher growth rate next year.

　 NBS figures show that China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew seven percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, and the growth rate was only 0.1 percent lower than in the second. In contrast, the growth rate plummeted 1.2 percentage points from 8.3 percent in the first quarter to 7.1 percent in the second.

　 The GDP amounted to 5,680 billion yuan for the first nine months of the year, an increase of 7.4 percent year on year, according to Qiu Xiaohua, NBS deputy director.

　 Qiu said, however, "the shrinking investment growth and persistent decline of retail prices reflected not only the current problem of inadequate demand within the market, but also the need to resolve deep rooted contradictions as well."

　 Fixed assets investment for the first three quarters increased 8.1 percent year on year to 1,176.4 billion yuan, but the figure for the third quarter alone showed a zero growth rate on a yearly basis.

　 Qiu attributed the growth decline for the third quarter to the sharp investment increase recorded in the same period last year when the government began to boost investment in infrastructure with the sum of 100 billion yuan.

　 The NBS deputy director was confident that investment growth will bounce back in the forth quarter and provide enough impetus for the economy to grow at seven percent as expected officially for the year.

　 He said that over the first nine months of the year, the retail price index (RPI) and consumer price index (CPI) dropped by three percent and 1.6 percent, respectively, from a year ago.

　 However, prices began to show signs of improving in July. Retail prices grew at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in both August and September. Total retail sales for the nine-month period jumped 6.3 percent to 2,214.9 billion yuan.

　 The price rebound was coupled by a straight monthly CPI increase of one percent and two percent in August and September respectively.

　 Qiu predicted that the decline of retail prices over the past two years will soon end. However, he refused to elaborate on the exact time.

　 Qiu said that large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises ( SOEs) have greatly improved their performance so far this year. Although lose-incurring SOEs still accounted for 51.6 percent of all SOEs in the country in the January-August period, their total profits increased by 2.3 times the figure one year earlier. Total losses of the SOEs were also 16.1 percent less than one year ago.

　 According to him, more than 7,900 SOEs were closed down, merged or turned to private or collective ownership from January to August, when 1,226 large and medium-sized SOEs turned their losses into profits. (Xinhua)