China's Economy Grows 8% This YearChina's economy is estimated to have scored an 8 percent growth this year, 0.9 percentage points more than in 1999, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Saturday morning.The gross domestic product (GDP) reached more than 8.9 trillion yuan (US$1,072 billion) this year, surpassing US$1 trillion for the first time in the nation's history at the current exchange rate, according to the NBS's preliminary estimates. The country's GDP increased 8.3 percent annually on average during the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1996-2000) period. The industrial added value reached 2,132.7 billion yuan (US$257 billion) in the first 11 months of this year, up 11.5 percent from a year earlier. The growth rate was 2.5 percentage points more than that of the same period in 1999. China invested 360.9 billion yuan (US$43.5 billion) in renovating and upgrading traditional industries in the 11-month period, up 17.2 percent. The development of high-tech industries has accelerated. The manufacturing of electronic and telecommunication products has become the largest manufacturing industry in China; its growth rate was over 20 percentage points more than that of industry as a whole. China eliminated some obsolete production capacity with emphasis being put on the coal, metallurgical and sugar industries this year, the NBS said. The accumulated profits of China's industrial enterprises reached 371.4 billion yuan (US$44.7 billion) in the first 11 months of this year, up 92 percent from a year earlier. From that figure, state-owned enterprises report combined profits of 208.3 billion yuan (US$25.1 billion), up 1.4 times, an all-time record since 1990. The NBS said China's grain output will drop 9 percent this year due to the decrease in the acreage sown to grain crops and severe droughts, while the output of cotton, oil, vegetables, animal products and aquatics will increase steadily. China invested 1,819.1 billion yuan (US$219.2 billion) in fixed assets in the first 11 months of this year, up 11.7 percent year on year, according to NBS figures. The investment in western areas increased 17.9 percent, 2.7 and 6.1 percentage points more than the growth rates for central and eastern areas, respectively. The combined retail sales volume stood at 3,047.3 billion yuan (US$367.1 billion) in the 11-month period, up 9.8 percent. The increase in urban areas was 2.4 percentage points more than that of rural areas. The NBS said the consumer price index increased 0.2 percent year on year in the 11-month period, reversing the sustained drop over the past few years. China's imports and exports reached US$430.9 billion in the first 11 months of this year, up 33.4 percent. From that amount, the exports stood at US$227.2 billion, up 30.1 percent; the imports stood at US$203.7 billion, up 37.4 percent. The trade surplus reached US$23.6 billion, US$2.8 billion less than the same period in 1999, the NBS said. The contracted foreign direct investment (FDI) reached US$48.6 billion in the 11-month period, up 36.3 percent. The actually-utilized FDI reached US$36.2 billion, down 2.3 percent. According to the NBS, China's foreign exchange reserves have continued to increase, and the exchange rate of RMB has basically remained stable. The per capita income of urban and rural residents increased 7 and 2 percent, respectively, in the year 2000. The NBS expects China's economy to keep growing in a fast and healthy manner in 2001. |
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