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The government announced on Sunday that it will
continue to put macroeconomic control at the top of the agenda next
year in order to maintain steady economic development and stable
prices.
The annual central economic conference, which
concluded in Beijing at the weekend, clarified China's overall
economic tasks for 2005, based on a summary of this year’s economic
performance.
The 3-day conference was attended by all nine
members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the
Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee. President Hu
Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao both delivered speeches.
It was agreed that the priority will be to further
strengthen and improve macroeconomic control mechanisms.
Work concerning rural areas, agriculture and
farmers will also be reinforced, and efforts made to raise the
production capacity and promote growth of output and farmers'
income, the conference said.
Other key points were to: control the overall scale
of investment in fixed assets; optimize investment structures and
make readjustments between investment and consumption; adhere to
the development of new industrialization, speed up economic
restructuring and the transition of growth patterns; and promote
interaction among eastern, central and western regions of the
country, so that they can complement each other in coordinated
development.
Also included were to continue to implement
the strategy of rejuvenating the nation with science and education,
speed up the?development of social undertakings, to protect
social stability, and to promote economic reforms and raise the
level of opening up.
Drafting of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) and
the 2020 prospecting development targets will also be carried out
in 2005.
The conference spoke highly of the central
authorities' decision to strengthen and improve macro-control over
the past year, which has helped restrain some unhealthy factors and
avoid drastic ups and downs in economic development.
Gross domestic product reached 9.3 trillion yuan
(US$1.1 trillion) in the first three quarters of this year, a 9.5
percent year-on-year rise. The increase of the consumer price
index, a key barometer of inflation, dropped nearly one percent
month-on-month to 4.3 percent in October.
The conference said that a crucial turning point
has been reached in grain production, leading to a great increase
in farmers' income.
Grain output is expected to reach 455 billion
kilograms by the end of this year, a sharp contrast to four years
of falling yields. The per capita cash income of farmers amounted
to 2,110 yuan (US$255) in the first three quarters, up 11.4 percent
year-on-year, recording the highest jump since 1997.
According to the conference, over-investment in
some industries has been curbed effectively and weak sectors have
been strengthened, thanks to the government's macroeconomic control
policy.
Investment in fixed assets totaled 4.5 trillion
yuan (US$544 billion) by September this year, up 27.7 percent
year-on-year, but down 15.3 percentage points and 0.9 percentage
points respectively when compared with the growth rates of the
first quarter of this year and the first half of 2004.
There was also an evident slowdown in investment in
some overheated sectors, such as steel, cement, aluminum and real
estate. Stricter control over loans and land use is believed to
have played an important role in holding this back.
The conference applauded the continuous rise in
economic benefits, large increase in fiscal revenue and enterprise
profits, as well as new progress in employment and
re-employment.
Fiscal revenue was 420 billion yuan (US$50.7
billion) in the first three quarters of this year. Industrial
enterprises reported a total profit of 913.3 billion yuan (US$112
billion) from January to October, a 39.7 percent year-on-year rise.
The country's import and export value is also expected to exceed
US$1 trillion, placing it third in global trade.
The conference scored the government's
macro-control policies and measures over the past year as “timely,
accurate and effective.” But it also warned that some deep-rooted
problems hindering healthy growth of the economy remain
unsolved.
The conference called for further efforts in
handling the relationship between market mechanisms and
macro-control, optimizing economic structures and promoting
coordinated development.
(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2004)
