China's Economic Growth Rate to Exceed Seven Percent

China's economic growth rate will reach or even exceed the expectant goal of seven percent this year, the spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday at a press conference.

He also noted that "when looking forward, we foresee a slow growth due to the worldwide economic slowdown".

"Meanwhile, as we keep stimulating the domestic demand," he added, "the economic situation will remain stable."

Consumer Goods Market Brisk

China's consumer goods market became brisk while maintaining stable growth in the first half of the year, Ye announced.

Retail sales nationwide totaled 1,791.5 billion yuan in the first six months, up 10.3 percent on a year-on-year basis.

Of the total, the retail sales in urban areas rose 11.6 percent on an annual basis to 1,120.9 billion yuan, while that in rural areas grew by 8.1 percent to 670.6 billion yuan during the period.

Secondary Industry Output Increases

The added value of China's secondary industry totaled 2,355.1 billion yuan for the first half this year, an increase of 9.7 percent compared with the previous corresponding period.

"The heavy industry increased rapidly due to the persist policy of stimulating the domestic demand, and the increasing investment in the infrastructure construction," the spokesman said.

In the first six months, the added value of the heavy industry rose 12.7 percent over the previous year, 3.5 percentage points higher than that of the light industry.

Economic Structure Improves

China has since this year enhanced the general control of some major industrial sectors and improved their operations, Ye said.

"Since the beginning of this year, overall adjustment has been made to control the production in industrial sectors including coal, metallurgy, building materials and petro-chemicals," he said.

Meanwhile, growth has been accelerated in some industrial sectors involving new and high technologies, he said. The contribution to industrial growth from such sectors as electronics, metallurgy, machine-building and building of transport facilities reached 41.5 percent.

The adjustment in agricultural structure has also made much headway during the period, he said.






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