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Half-year statistics show strong
Chinese growth
BEIJING -
China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS)
released the statistics report for the first half
of 2005 on July 20. The following were the main
economic figures for the first half.
China's GDP (gross domestic product) grew
by 9.5% to 6.7422 trillion yuan (US$8,123 billion)
in the first half of this year, and the growth
rate was 0.2 percentage points lower than a year
earlier.
In the first half of this year,
regions and departments at all levels aimed to
consolidate the achievements brought by
macroeconomic cooling measures, said Zheng
Jingping, spokesman for the NBS, at a press
conference in Beijing on July 20. "As a result,
fairly good overall economic performance was
recorded in the first half of this year."
Breaking the growth figures down by
industry, primary industry reported a value added
of 670.7 billion yuan, up 5%; secondary industry,
3,963.5 billion yuan, up 11.2%; and the tertiary
industries, 2,108.0 billion yuan, up 7.8%,
according to the NBS.
The country's consumer price index rose by
2.3% in first half of this year, lower than the
3.6% level for the same period last year.
Industrial production grew by 16.4% in the
first six months of this year on a year-on-year
basis.
Fixed assets investment reached 3289.5 billion
yuan in the first six months of this year, a
year-on-year increase of 25.4%.
The disposable income per capita of China's
urban residents reached 5,374 yuan in the first
half of this year, a year-on-year increase of
9.5%.
The per capita cash income of farmers had a
real increase of 12.5% to 1,586 yuan for the first
half year, up 1.6 and 0.8 percentage points,
respectively, from a year earlier.
Urban unemployment reaches 8.34
million
By the end of June this year,
registered urban unemployment in China reached
8.34 million, and the registered unemployment rate
was 4.2%, equal to the level at the end of 2004.
Statistics provided by the Ministry of
Labor and Social Security (MLSS) showed that by
the end of June, the number of laid off workers of
state-owned enterprises was 1.17 million, 360,000
less than at the end of 2004. Of these, 650,000
had registered with re-employment service centers,
and they had all received a full-amount basic
living subsidy. In addition, the centers had paid
social insurance fees for them.
At the
second-quarter press conference held on July 19,
MLSS spokesman Hu Xiaoyi said that by the end of
June, 14 provinces had basically transformed the
basic living subsidy for laid-off workers into
unemployment insurance. For example, Jilin and
Heilongjiang provinces, which are improving the
social security system on a trial basis, have
examined and put 600,000 and 780,000 workers,
respectively, under the coverage of the social
security system.
By the end of June, some
104.96 million people nationwide in China had
taken unemployment insurance policies; and some
4.03 million persons had received unemployment
insurance indeminty, according to Hu. In the first
six months of this year, the revenue of
unemployment insurance funds in China totaled 14.9
billion yuan, up 15.5% year on year; and the
expenditure, 9.1 billion yuan, down 1.1%. A total
of 5.37 million persons have received unemployment
insurance money to different time limits.
According to Hu, the ministry has launched
a policy effect campaign nationwide, requiring
governments at all levels to resolve the
unemployment-related problems conscientiously. At
the July 19 press conference, Hu said that the
work of employment and re-employment progressed
smoothly in the first half of this year, when some
5.95 million people found jobs, which is 66% of
the annual target set for 2005; 2.58 million laid
off workers found chances of reemployment again,
52% of the annual target; and some 660,000 people
above 40 and 50 years old were reemployed, 66% of
the annual target.
While maintaining the
special living subsidy funds appropriated to laid
off workers of state-owned enterprises, the
central government will earmark an additional 2.6
billion yuan as a special subsidy fund for
re-employment, thus taking the sum of the two
funds to 20.9 billion yuan (including discount
interests for small amount loans). The MLSS
reported seven observations on the urban labor
market in China in the second quarter of this
year:
Market demand for labor and the number of job
seekers have all increased in the second quarter
as compared with the first quarter of this year
and the same period of 2004.
Tertiary industry was a major employer during
the period, while the demand by secondary industry
decreased slightly and that of tertiary industries
increased slightly over the first quarter.
By sector, wholesale and retail sale trade,
catering, manufacturing and social service
industries were major employers.
Enterprises, especially private and individual
enterprises and joint stock enterprises, were
major employers.
About 55.8% of job seekers were laid-off
workers in the period.
Highly skilled personnel remained scarce in
the labor market.
Machine processing personnel, household
electric appliances maintenance personnel, tailors
and electricians were especially favored by
employment units, while the number of people
seeking shop employee, cashier and driver
positions far exceeded the actual demand of
employment units.
Lastly, it was noted
that employment units had employed 4.11 million
persons through labor markets in 104 cities in
China in the second quarter of this year, out of
the 4.33 million persons that had entered labor
markets to seek jobs.
Standard &
Poor's upgrades ratings for China, Hong Kong
On July 20, China's foreign and local currency
debt ratings were raised one level to A- by the
Standard & Poor's rating agency, which cited
government efforts to overhaul Asia's
second-largest economy. "The government's
aggressive restructuring of its financial sector
combined with improved profitability of the
state-owned enterprises'' prompted the upgrade,
S&P said. In addition, the agency reported a
positive outlook, meaning the rating is more
likely to be raised in the future than lowered.
In the past two years, the government has
used its massive foreign exchange reserves to
inject $60 billion of fresh capital into key state
banks, which have been burdened by nonperforming
loans. Hong Kong-based economist Huang Yiping of
Citigroup Inc noted: "The rating is appropriate
and a recognition of the very significant policy
efforts China is making to revamp the financial
system ... [Financial reform] is very positive for
the sustainability of growth going forward. You
need a good financial system.''
S&P's
A- rating is its seventh-highest, putting China's
sovereign debt at the same level as Malaysia and
South Korea. "This upgrade is way overdue,'' said
Tim Condon, head of Asian financial markets
research at ING Group NV in Singapore. "It is a
recognition that China is a considerably stronger
credit than BBB+.''
Simultaneously with
the mainland rating upgrade, Standard & Poor's
upgraded Hong Kong's foreign currency sovereign
credit ratings to AA-/A-1+ from A+/A-1, which
represented an important recognition of Hong
Kong's sound economic fundamentals, improved
public finance and growth prospects, Hong Kong
Financial Secretary Henry Tang said July 20.
Standard & Poor's said the principal
risk to Hong Kong - potential challenges that may
arise from increased economic integration with the
mainland - had been reduced as a result of China's
robust economic performance, sustained structural
reform and overall strengthening of credit
worthiness. Meanwhile, it remains concerned about
Hong Kong's narrow revenue base and indicated the
introduction of a goods and services tax or other
broad-based tax could potentially lead to a
further upgrade in Hong Kong's ratings.
"The upgrade confirms improved growth
prospects and the strong resilience of the Hong
Kong economy, as demonstrated by our ability to
weather numerous shocks over the past few years,"
Tang said. On the fiscal front, the government
remains committed to consolidating Hong Kong's
public finances with continued fiscal discipline.
It will also consider measures to broaden the
revenue base. "Looking ahead, Hong Kong's role as
a major platform for intermediating trade, capital
and ideas will be further enhanced with the wealth
of opportunities presented by increasing economic
integration with the mainland," he added.
Standard & Poor's also raised its
long-term foreign currency ratings on seven of
Hong Kong's leading companies and financial
institutions to AA- from A+. They are the Kowloon
Canton Railway Corporation, the MTR Corporation,
the Airport Authority, DBS Bank (Hong Kong), the
Hang Seng Bank, the Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation
and the Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking
Corporation.
(Asia
Pulse/XIC) |
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