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China's
economic growth up |
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News
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April 19, 2000
BEIJING, APR 18 (AP) - China on Tuesday reported economic growth and prices up in the first three months of the year, but it wasn't clear whether a 2-year-old slump was finally bottoming out. Growth accelerated to 8.1 percent, while consumer prices crept up 0.1 percent, the State Statistical Bureau said. It said growth for the full year could beat last year's 7.1 percent - the lowest in 10 years. First-quarter growth was 1.3 percentage points ahead of the rate for the last quarter of 1999, the bureau said. Retail sales grew 10.4 percent, ahead of the rate for the previous quarter. Liu Chengxiang, a bureau spokesman, attributed the change to strong exports, government stimulus measures and improved consumer confidence. The government is trying to stop a downward spiral in consumer demand so severe that prices have been falling for more than two years, threatening to bankrupt some companies. Beijing has poured tens of billions of yuan (dollars) into the economy through projects to build roads and other public works.
First-quarter exports surged 39.1 percent, Liu said. But weak demand and unfinished reforms are still major problems, he said. In a sign that demand is still weak, Liu noted that the benchmark consumer price index fell 0.2 percent in March.
Economic growth of 7.1 percent last year was the lowest reported by China since 1990. "If all macroeconomic adjustments continue to be well implemented, I believe the GDP growth for the whole year will be higher than last year's," Liu said at a press conference. Farming output grew 3 percent in the quarter, while output at industrial and construction companies rose 9.3 percent, the Statistical Bureau said. Output
at transportation, telecommunications and other service industries
rose 7.5 percent, the bureau said. It said urban incomes rose 6.9 percent in
the first quarter, while rural incomes were up 1 percent.
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