SteelOrbis Shanghai
Despite the successive shocks of serious natural disasters as well as the negative impact of the changeable international economic climate, the Chinese government has maintained steady and fast growth in the national economy through a series of macro-control measures.
According to the preliminary figures, China's gross domestic product (GDP) in the first three quarters of 2008 reached RMB 20.1631 trillion ($2.9565 trillion), up 9.9 percent year on year, a decline of 2.3 percentage points compared with the growth rate for the same period last year.
1. Agriculture production has been maintaining sound growth momentum, with the fifth successive year of growth in grain production .
2. Industrial output recorded a slowdown in growth, with stable profit increase for enterprises. In the first three quarters of 2008, the industrial output of major industrial enterprises with annual sales of more than RMB 5 million saw a rise of 15.2 percent, 3.3 percentage points lower than the increase rate for January-September 2007.
In the January-August period of 2008, the aggregate profits of China's major industrial enterprises were up 19.4 percent to RMB 1.8685 trillion ($274 billion).
3. Fixed assets investments grew steadily and quickly, with optimization observed in investment structure. In the first three quarters of this year, China's fixed assets investments rose 27.0 percent to RMB 11.6246 trillion ($1.7045 billion), up 1.3 percentage points compared with the growth rate for the same period last year. Urban fixed assets investments reached RMB 9.9871 trillion ($1.4644 trillion), up 27.6 percent year on year, 1.2 percentage points higher than the increase rate for January-September 2007, while rural fixed assets investments were up 23.3 percent to RMB 1.6375 trillion ($240.1 billion), up 2.1 percentage points year on year.
4. Domestic market consumption continued to accelerate its growth, accompanied by a rapid rise in urban and rural consumption. In January-September, China's retail sales went up 22.0 percent to RMB 7.7886 trillion ($1.142 trillion), up 6.1 percentage points year on year.
5. A slackening continued to be seen in the growth of consumer prices, with a slowdown observed in the increase of industrial product prices.
In the first three quarters of 2008, the consumer price index was up 7.0 percent, 1.9 percentage points higher compared with the rate for the same period last year.
6. China's exports registered a decline in their growth rate, with a rapid increase recorded in direct foreign investment. In the first three quarters of the current year, China's combined imports and exports totaled $1.9671 trillion, up 25.2 percent year on year and up 1.7 percentage points in terms of growth rate. Meanwhile, the value of actual implemented foreign direct investment was $74.4 billion, up 39.9 percent year on year, 29.0 percentage points higher than the rate in January-September last year.
7. With the improvement achieved in urban employment, a continuous increase was observed in incomes of both urban and rural inhabitants. In the January-August period, 13.22 million new jobs were created in urban areas. In the first three quarters of this year, the average per capita disposable income of China's urban population was RMB 11,865 ($1,740), up 14.7 percent year on year, representing an actual growth rate of 7.5 percent after discounting the effect of price factors. Meanwhile, rural residents saw their per capita income increase by 19.6 percent to RMB 3,971 ($582). After deducting price fluctuations, the real growth rate was 11.0 percent.
8. The monetary supply slowed down its upward movement, accompanied by a sharp rise in deposits. By the end of September, broad money M2 reached RMB 45.3 trillion ($6.64 trillion), up 15.3 percent year on year and down 3.2 percentage points over the previous year. Loans issued by financial institutions totaled RMB 29.6477 trillion ($4.3472 trillion), up RMB 3.4803 trillion ($510.3 billion) compared with the beginning of 2008, while deposits have increased RMB 6.5601 trillion ($961.9 billion) to RMB 45.4942 trillion ($6.6707 trillion).