China's Economy Shows Positive TrendChina's economic performance is showing positive signs that may nudge the country out of a long period of deflation, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).Latest NBS statistics indicate that China's economy developed in a stable and healthy way in the first five months of the year, with its gross domestic product (GDP) expected to reach 7.5 percent for the whole year. The industrial enterprises reported 125.4 billion yuan in profits during the period, of which the state-owned and state- holding enterprises contributed 55 percent, or 69.2 billion yuan, 3.1 times that of the same period last year. The industrial added-value accumulated to 890.4 billion yuan, up 11 percent, with the industrial performance composite index climbing to 101.8, the highest level in recent years. During the January-May period, the investment expectations were rising again owing to newly-started projects. The fixed assets investment of state-owned and other economies rose 9.5 percent in the period to hit 523.3 billion yuan. Experts said the central government's stimulus policies for consumption have had positive results. And urban retail sales of consumer products rose 11.5 percent on an annual basis. Meanwhile, China's consumer confidence index increased for the fifth consecutive month in May, a sign that consumers are optimistic about future economic development. China's foreign trade also grew at a high speed in the first half of the year, with imports and exports volume totaling US$ 174.1 billion, up more than 30 percent. Foreign exchange reserves continued to increase, and have amounted to US$ 158 billion. Economists attribute the better performance of China's economy mainly to the implementation of the pro-active fiscal policy in the past two years. However, they believe that this is just the beginning of the positive trend of the overall economic development, and it will take some time before faster economic growth can be registered. |
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