The Chinese economy is expected to grow faster this year than last year figure of 7.1 percent, Liu Hong, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, said Monday.

At a press conference held by the Information Office of the State Council, Liu noted that China's GDP grew 7.1 percent to reach 8.2054 trillion yuan (988.6 billion US dollars) in 1999.

Investment contributed two percent to China's GDP, while domestic consumer demand was 5.5 percent. Overseas demand was minus 0.4 percentage points.

Meanwhile, China's fixed-asset investment grew 5.2 percent from1998 to reach 2,987.6 billion yuan last year, much lower than expected. But Liu further noted that thanks to successful state policies in expanding both domestic investment and consumer demand, the country still achieved its overall economic target for 1999.

According to a communique released Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics, China's grain output dropped by 0.8 percent, or 3.97 million tons, to 508 million tons in 1999. Industry output increased by 3.5357 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.5 percent, while import and export volume amounted to 360.7 billion yuan, or a rise of 11.3 percent. Imports and exports generated a trade surplus of 29.1 billion US dollars.

Moreover, the country's foreign exchange reserve hit 154.7 billion US dollars by the end of 1999.

As the global economy and international trade on speedy rise, Liu said, China's export volume is also expected to grow steadily this year.

China's retail sales rose by 6.8 percent to reach 3.1135 trillion yuan (375.1 billion US dollars) in 1999.

The central government will accelerate state-owned enterprise reform, he said. And the production and profit situation of the state-owned enterprises is expected to be better still this year.

Acknowledging that the state-owned enterprise profits reported a 77.7 percents increase, whereas the losses were reduced by 15.9 percents in 1999, Liu said that by the end of the year, there were a total of 6.5 million laid-off workers from the state-owned enterprises in China and that the ratio of the unemployed registered in cities and towns was 3.1 percent. Moreover, Liu added, additional 5 million workers would possibly be laid-off this year.

However, Liu noted, developing China's western regions will also greatly add to the confidence and zeal of the investors.