More Money Means More Shopping in Guangdong

Thanks to their fattened wallets, the Cantonese have been able to spend much more last month than they did in the same period last year on fancy mobile phones and luxurious summer trips, Wednesday's Chinadaily reported.

The exact magnitude of this prosperity has recently been measured by a sample survey conducted by the Urban Investigation Team of Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province.

Analysts attribute robust consumption to a recovery in people's confidence in the economy now that the Asian financial crisis has come to an end.

Benefiting from the economic pick-up, which is evident in the double-digit growth in the GDP this year, the Cantonese earned 18.7 per cent more in disposable income this July than they did last July, about 1,093.34 yuan (US$131.7) per capita, according to the survey.

Correspondingly, they spent 18.5 per cent more last month on food, clothing, home appliances and domestic services, medical care, transportation and telecommunications, entertainment, education and other commodities and services, a total of 888.6 yuan (US$107) per capita.

Rather than buying luxury food and clothes, the Cantonese prefer to spend their extra cash on modern gadgets, phoning people and sightseeing.

According to the survey, the most obvious increases in spending were on transportation and telecommunications.

Now it is the summer holidays, more students and families are travelling, so spending on transportation expanded by 23.3 per cent last month compared to the same period of 1999.

The number of mobile phones purchased by local residents last month went up by 71 per cent according to comparable statistics from last year.

"People's passion for consumption has been central to the improvement of the local economy," said Wang Shouchu, the city's vice-mayor, adding that the contribution rate of consumption to GDP reached 66 per cent from January to June this year.

The increases in expenditure on transportation and telecommunications are in large part due to the quickening tempo of life for the Cantonese.



People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/