HONG
KONG - China's economy recorded
faster-than-expected growth for the whole of last
year, despite the government's belt-tightening
policy to cool it down.
Preliminary
statistics show that the country's gross domestic
product (GDP) totaled 20.9407 trillion yuan
(US$2.7 trillion) in 2006, up 10.7% from 2005,
according to the National Bureau of Statistics
(NBS).
The GDP growth rate beats all
forecasts at home and abroad,
which have put the figure
between 10% and 10.5%.
It was also 0.3
percentage point higher than the growth rate in
2005. The NBS recently revised its GDP growth in
2005 to the final figure of 10.4%, higher than the
original 9.9%.
The 2006 growth figure
presents a more realistic picture of actual
economic activity than the indicators announced in
recent years, according to Chen Xingdong, an
economist with BNP Paribas. "The announced GDP
growth of 10.7% is more logical than before. At
this stage it's quite reasonable as [the
government] had to make it consistent with the
economic situation," Chen told XFN-Asia.
At a press conference in Beijing, NBC
commissioner Xie Fuzhan said quarterly GDP growth
last year was 10.4%, 11.5%, 10.6% and 10.4%
respectively. This suggests the yearly figure
could be even higher.
According to
preliminary figures previously released by the
NBS, China's GDP grew 10.3%, 11.3% and 10.4% in
the first, second and third quarter of last year,
so possibilities exist for the rate in the fourth
quarter to be revised to a higher level, which in
turn would boost the figure for the whole year.
Last March, vowing to strengthen
macroeconomic controls to cool down what the
government deemed to be an overheating economy,
Premier Wen Jiabao set a GDP growth rate goal of
about 8% for last year.
Xie said the
latest statistics show the government's
belt-tightening has begun to take effect as growth
in fixed-investment slowed down while domestic
consumption picked up.
To curb growing
fixed-asset investment and boost domestic
consumption are the major goals of Beijing's
macroeconomic control policy.
The latest
statistics show that fixed-asset investment across
the country last year grew 24% from the previous
year to reach a total 10.987 trillion yuan. The
growth rate was two percentage points lower than
that in 2005.
In breakdowns, fixed-asset
investment in urban areas grew 24.5% to 9.347
trillion yuan, down 2.7 percentage points from the
previous year, while that of the rural areas
surged 21.3%.
Fixed-asset investment grew
faster in central and western regions than in
areas on the east coast. The figure in central
China was 33.1%, while those in western and
eastern regions were 25.9% and 20.6% respectively.
But investment in property development
continued to surge, despite Beijing's crackdown.
Investment in the sector reached 1.938 trillion
yuan, up 21.8%, which was 0.9 percentage points
higher than the previous year.
Retail
sales rose 13.7% to 7.641 trillion yuan in 2006.
The growth rate was 0.8 percentage point higher
than the previous year.
Retail sales hit
749.9 billion yuan last month, up 14.6% year on
year. Retail sales rose 14.3% in urban areas and
12.6% in rural areas last year.
Sales of
oil products recorded the highest growth of 36.2%
and automobile sales were up 26.3%.
Xie
said domestic consumption grew slowly because the
country lacked a sound social security system.
People preferred to save money as costs for
medical care and education soared.
Xie
admitted that China failed to achieve the goal of
improving energy efficiency. In March, Wen set
last year's goal of lowering energy consumption
per unit of GDP by 4%. "It is very difficult, or
impossible, to attain this goal," Xie said.
Some earlier reports said energy
consumption per unit of GDP went up in the first
three quarters. But the latest report from the
National Development and Reform Commission said
the figure began to take a downturn in the last
quarter of 2006. "This is a positive signal," Xie
said.
The statistics show that urban and
rural residents all saw double-digit growth in
their per capita disposable income in 2006, faster
than the previous year.
On average, urban
residents earned 11,759 yuan in per capita
disposable income last year, up 12.1% from the
year earlier. The inflation-adjusted growth was
10.4%, 0.8 percentage point faster than the
previous year's level, the NBS said.
Last
year, the average per capita income of rural
residents in China increased by 10.2% to 3,587
yuan. After accounting for price fluctuation, the
real growth rate was 7.4%, 1.2 percentage points
faster than the previous year.
The
registered urban unemployment rate stood at 4.1%
by the end of 2006, 0.1 percentage point down from
the end of 2005.
China's consumer price
index, the yardstick for measuring inflation, grew
by 1.5% in 2006 over the previous year. The growth
rate was 0.3 percentage point lower than the
previous year, according to the NBS.
Consumer goods rose in price by 1.4% and
food prices by 2.3% year on year, respectively.
The price of grain went up by 2.7%. Last year's
retail price rose by 1.0% year on year and the
increase rate was 0.2 percentage point higher than
that for 2005.
Housing prices in the
country's 70 medium-sized and large cities went up
by 5.5% in 2006 over the previous year and the
rate of increase was 2.1 percentage points lower
than that for 2005.
Value-added output of
all industrial enterprises in China grew 12.5%
year on year in 2006. Major enterprises, each with
an annual sales volume of at least five million
yuan, posted a growth of 16.6% in value-added
output, the NBS said.
John Ng is
a freelance journalist based in Hong Kong.
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