The fact that the Chinese economy maintained strong momentum
despite the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
has placed all eyes on China in 2003.
Minimized SARS effect on growth was voted as one of the top 10
domestic economic news makers in 2003 by China Daily and
14 other news organizations, as well as some renowned economists
and entrepreneurs.
Sponsored by the Beijing-based Economic Information
newspaper and China Mobile Group, the results were released on
Thursday in Beijing. The events are ranked by chronological order
as follows:
1. The outbreak of SARS in April did not affect the general
trend of China's economic growth, which is expected to reach 8.5
percent in 2003.
2. UBS and Nomura Securities won the first two licenses from
qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) in May, a symbol
for China's opening of the A share market.
3. The Three Gorges Project began water storage, shipping and
power generating on June 1. The project has infused fresh energy
into the Chinese economy.
4. The central government of China signed the Closer Economic
Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) with the governments of Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Macao SAR on June 29 and
October 17 respectively.
5. Many regions in China encountered shortages in the supply of
power, coal and petrol products in the second half of 2003. The
energy shortage has created a bottleneck for the Chinese
economy.
6. When meeting with Citigroup Chairman Robert Rubin in Beijing
on August 5, Premier Wen Jiabao underlined China's stance on the
foreign exchange rate of renminbi. He said maintaining the
fundamental stability of renminbi benefits both China and the
stable development of the global economy.
7. The State Council came up with a strategy and measures to
revive the traditional industrial base in Northeast China in a
general meeting on September 10.
8. A communique passed at the Third Plenum of the 16th Central
Committee of the Communist Party of China from October 11 to 14
which set the main tasks for improving China's socialist market
economy.
9. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration
Commission released a circular to standardize restructuring of
state-owned enterprises (SOEs) on December 15. The 189 larger SOEs
will increase the pace on the shareholding system reform.
10. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security announced on
December 21 that China would keep the registered unemployment rate
in cities below 4.5 percent this year. China has created more than
8 million new jobs this year.
(China Daily December 27, 2003)