SteelOrbis Shanghai
On April 20, the National Statistics Bureau announced
China's first quarter economic figures.
In the first quarter,
China's GDP is RMB 4.3313 trillion ($540.7 billion), up 10.2 percent year on year, faster than the 9.9-percent growth rate in the previous year.
The growth rate of industrial
production accelerated with improved performances. In the first quarter, large scale enterprises earned a profit of RMB 1.7822 trillion ($222.5 billion), up 16.7 percent from a year ago. Among the total, the heavy industry accounts for 17.6 percent, while the light industry for 14.7 percent. Broken down specifically, the output of energy sources such as power and crude coal were up 11.1 percent and 12 percent respectively, that of raw material such as steel, alumina, aluminum products and other non-ferrous metals increased 21.7 percent, 45.3 percent, 36.4 percent and 22.2 percent respectively. The output of personal computer, mobile phones and faxes increased 40.1 percent, 57.1 percent and 21.5 percent, while that of automobile increased 36.3 percent.
The profits of industrial enterprises kept growing fast. In the first quarter, large scale industrial enterprises earned a profit of RMB 336.3 billion ($42 billion), a year-on-year increase of 21.3 percent.
The fixed assets investment saw a sharp increase. During January-March, the social fixed assets investment was RMB 1.3908 trillion ($173.6 billion), up 27.7 percent year on year, among which urban fixed assets investment was RMB 1.1608 trillion ($145 billion), up 29.8 percent.
The nationwide consumer prices increased mildly with 1.2 percent year on year in the first quarter.
The foreign trade keeps expanding. In the first three months of 2006, the total import and export revenue increased 25.8 percent year on year to $371.3 billion. Broken down into details, the export revenue was $197.3 billion, up 26.6 percent, while the import revenue was $174 billion, up 24.8 year on year. Therefore, the trade surplus was $23.3 billion.
The Bureau stated that the performances of enterprises further improved, urban residents saw increase in their incomes, and the national economy and social development is healthy.
The National Statistics Bureau thinks
China's economy still has some problems such as considerable increase in fixed assets investment and bank loans.
Generally speaking, the Chinese government will further strengthen the macro-economic control. The government may even increase the interest rate in the case of necessity.