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China successfully attained main targets for economic and social
development in 2003 with rapid economic growth, its top legislature
was told Saturday.
Ma Kai, minister in charge of the State Development and Reform
Commission, made the remark in a report he delivered to the
national legislature on the implementation of the 2003 Plan for
National Economic and Social Development and on the 2004 Draft Plan
for National Economic and Social Development.
The economy grew rapidly with its efficiency improved
significantly, and China's GDP hit 11.6694 trillion yuan in 2003, a
9.1 percent increase over the previous year, said the minister.
Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 9,030 yuan,
exceeding the important benchmark of 1,000 US dollars for the first
time when calculated at the present exchange rate, he said.
The growth of domestic demand was accelerated as investment in
fixed assets for the whole country was 5.5118 trillion yuan, a
year-on-year rise of 26.7 percent, and that retail sales of
consumer goods totaled 4.5842 trillion yuan, up 9.1 percent, he
acknowledged. Consumer prices rose by 1.2 percent.
Economic efficiency improved in step with economic growth, and
government revenue for the entire country was 2.17 trillion yuan, a
rise of 14.7 percent more than the previous year, said Ma.
Economic efficiency in the industrial sector reached a record
high. Total profits of state-owned and large non-state owned
industrial enterprises were 815.2 billion yuan, an increase of 42.7
percent, 22 percentage points greater than the previous year.
State-owned enterprises and enterprises with the controlling
stake held by the state generated 378.4 billion yuan in profits, an
increase of 45.2 percent. Of the industrial products made last
year, 98.1 percent were sold.
The minister said a number of projects of great importance for
long-term economic and social development were completed and put
into operation.
In 2003, he said, water was successfully stored in the Three
Gorges Reservoir, and permanent ship locks on the Three Gorges
Project were opened to navigation, and the project's first set of
generators began producing power.
Construction was started on the eastern and central routes of
the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. An additional 46,000
kilometers of highways and 1,164 kilometers of newly completed
railway lines were opened to traffic. The power industry developed
more quickly.
The country produced 1.9 trillion KWH of electricity in 2003,
15.5 percent more than in 2002, and the number of telephone
subscribers reached 532 million, a year-on-year increase of 112
million, the minister said.
The minister acknowledged that new strides were made in
developing the western region, and implementation of the strategy
for reinvigorating northeast China and other old industrial bases
began.
"Ecological conservation and environmental protection work in
the western region was further intensified. Some 3.37 million
hectares of farmland were returned to forests; 3.77 million
hectares of barren hills and wasteland were afforested; and 6.66
million hectares of seriously degraded grassland were
improved."
Greater efforts were put into infrastructure development, noted
Ma. An additional 317 kilometers of track was laid on the
Qinghai-Tibet railway line. The eastern section of the West-to-East
Natural Gas Piping Project was completed, allowing natural gas to
be delivered to east China.
An additional power transmission capacity of over 8 million KW
was installed as part of the West-to-East Electricity Transmission
Project, said the minister. Another 4,200 km of highways connecting
county seats were built or upgraded.
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2004)
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