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China Economy Grows Faster, Steadier
China's economy grew 8.2 percent year-on-year to 6,212.4 billion yuan in the first nine months of this year, official figures show.
Of the total, primary, secondary and tertiary industries grew 2.2 percent, 9.8 percent and 8.1 percent respectively, Ye Zhen, spokesman with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), told a press conference sponsored by the Information Office under the State Council Monday.
Ye said China's economy has reached a stage of stable growth and is expected to maintain the present momentum into the fourth quarter and next year.
The GDP growth has stabilized above 8 percent over the first three quarters of the year, with 8.1 percent for the first quarter, 8.3 percent for the second quarter and 8.2 percent for the third quarter.
Ye predicts that economic growth for the whole year will exceed the 7.1 percent in 1999 and the beginning-of-the-year target of 7 percent.
He also noted that the quality of economic growth has improved.
In the first nine months of the year, investment in fixed assets and retail sales increased by 12.9 percent and 9.9 percent respectively over the same period last year. The growth rates were 4.8 and 3.6 percentage points higher than the previous year.
The consumption price index (CPI) rose 0.2 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, compared with an negative growth of 1.6 percentage points in the same period last year.
For the first nine months of the year, fixed asset investment totaled 1,347 billion yuan and retail sales totaled 2,433.6 billion yuan.
During January to August, the comprehensive index of industrial efficiency jumped to 112.5 points, the highest level since the index was first composed in 1992.
In the same period, industrial enterprises saw a total profit of 241.8 billion yuan, an all-time high over the past decade.
The spokesman said China will continue to pursue an active fiscal policy by issuing 50 billion yuan worth of additional treasury bonds in the last three months of the year.
He noted that the measures that the Chinese government adopted to stimulate demand over the past three years have greatly enhanced the strength of the economy, invigorated Chinese enterprises and improved the micro-economic environment.
The business climate indices of industrial enterprises and entrepreneurs had been on the rise in the third quarter. At the same time, orders of industrial products and construction contracts grew by 7.3 percent and 23.6 percent respectively.
According to Ye, the current improvement of the global economy and a relatively low growth in the fourth quarter of last year will also help the economy maintain a sound momentum into the next year.
NBS figures showed that industrial output totaled 1,706.1 billion yuan over the first three quarters, growing 11.6 percent over the previous year.
Grain output for the autumn season is expected to drop over last year, with 14.5 million tons less summer crops than that of last summer.
Over the first three quarters, the average cash income per capita of farmers was 1,500 yuan, 2.5 percent more than the same period last year. At the same time, the per capita income of urban residents grew by 8.4 percent over the previous year to 4,719 yuan.
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