China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.1 percent this year, higher than the 7 percent target set at the beginning of the year, official sources announced in Beijing on December 29.

China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on December 29 morning that the GDP reached 8,319 billion yuan (about 1,002 billion US dollars) this year.

According to NBS figures, the primary industry grew by 2.8 percent over last year, with total added value of 1,440.5 billion yuan. The secondary industry jumped 8.5 percent, with total added value of 4,076.3 billion yuan. The tertiary industry grew by 6.9 percent, with total added value of 2,802.2 billion yuan.

Progress in reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), increase in exports and investment in fixed assets have all contributed to the steady growth of the economy.

Since the beginning of the year, the Chinese government has taken a series of determined steps to turn around money-losing SOEs, including swapping debts of the enterprises for shares of banks. These measures promoted a 61 percent jump in net profits of the SOEs as a whole and helped reduce the losses of the slumping enterprises by 12.8 percent for the first 11 months of the year. Net profits of all SOEs soared to 182.6 billion yuan in the period.

The textile industry, which the Chinese government has picked as the spot to make breakthroughs in reversing the losses of SOEs, achieved the goal a year ahead of schedule. From January to November, the industry as a whole turned out net profits of 116 million yuan, ending a five-year profit-losing streak.

Other industries such as building materials and nonferrous metallurgy also made remarkable progress in reducing losses and increasing profits.

NBS figures show that total added value registered by SOEs and large-scale non-government-run industrial enterprises reached 2, 020 billion yuan this year, nine percent more than last year. The added value of the country's industry totaled 3,485 billion yuan, up 8.8 percent over last year.

Thanks to the policies the Chinese government adopted to encourage export and to the recovery of southeast Asian economies, China's exports are expected to grow by six percent over last year to 195 billion US dollars.

Though the growth is a far cry from the double-digit growth in the early 1990s, it is much higher than the expected zero-growth at the beginning of the year. The growth came from the second half of the year only.

Imports are expected to be 165 billion US dollars for the year, increasing 16 percent over last year.

Over the year, government investment has remained a major force propelling economic growth in spite of negatives such as inadequate investment and consumption demand, growing employment pressure, diminishing increase of income for rural residents and irrational structure of the economy.

The Chinese government has issued 160 billion yuan-worth of additional treasury bonds to fund infrastructure construction and technological upgrading over the past two years. The move helped to drive total investment in fixed assets to over 2,200 billion yuan this year, 7.8 percent more than last year.

This year, prices continued to fall while income of residents kept on rising. The NBS says that the retail price index (RPI) fell 2.9 percent from last year and the consumer price index (CPI) dropped 1.3 percent. Per capita income of urban residents is expected to rise to 5,859 yuan, 9.3 percent higher than last year. Per capita income of rural residents is expected to reach 2,205 yuan, four percent higher than last year.