The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in
Beijing Tuesday morning that gross domestic product totaled 13.65
trillion yuan (US$1.65 trillion) last year, an increase of 9.5
percent on 2003.
The robust economic picture was posted against the
backdrop of substantial government efforts to cool the economy
down, especially some red-hot sectors such as steel, cement,
aluminum and real estate.
In a press release distributed at the State
Council's Information Office, the NBS said that preliminary figures
for the added value of primary industry rose 6.3 percent to 2.07
trillion yuan (about US$250 billion) in 2004.
That of secondary and tertiary industries rose 11.1
and 8.3 percent to 7.24 trillion yuan (US$874.4 billion) and 4.34
trillion yuan (US$524.15 billion) respectively, it added.
NBS Director Li Deshui told the press that China
had scored "tangible" outcomes in cementing and improving
macro-control and had curbed "unhealthy and unstable" factors in
its economic development.
Major industrial enterprises, whose annual sales
revenues exceeded 5 million yuan (US$609,000), registered a 16.7
percent rise in their added value, down slightly from the previous
year.
Coal output went up 15 percent, while power output
was up 14.9 percent. The aggregate product of pig iron, crude
steel, rolled steel rose 24.1 percent, 32.2 percent and 23.5
percent respectively. The automobile sector churned out 5.2 million
units.
According to Li, total profits for the industrial
sector stood at 1.13 trillion yuan (US$138.3 billion), up 38.1
percent.
Investment in fixed assets totaled 7.01 trillion
yuan (about US$854.5 billion), up 25.8 percent year-on-year. This
growth rate was 1.9 percentage points lower than the previous
year.
Consumer spending remained stable but showed
invigorating signs, with the combined retail sales volume growing
13.3 percent to 5.4 trillion yuan (US$652.17 billion). It climbed
10.2 percent after deducting price hikes, 1 percentage point higher
on a yearly basis.
Urban and rural retail sales rose 14.7 and 10.7
percent.
Typically, per capita net income of rural residents
rose 6.8 percent to 2,936 yuan (US$355), the strongest growth in
the past seven years since 1997.
Per capita disposable income of urban residents
reached 9,422 yuan (US$1,140), a net rise of 7.7 percent.
By the end of 2004, the saving deposit of urban and
rural populations totaled more than 11.95 trillion yuan
(approximately US$1.44 trillion), an increase of 1.59 trillion yuan
(US$192.6 billion) over the end of 2003.
Last year, the number of the newly employed reached
9.8 million among the urban residents, 800,000 more than the
anticipated goal. As a result, the urban registered unemployment
rate dropped to 4.2 percent, down 0.1 percent from a year ago.
Total grain output reached 469.5 million tons, a
hefty increase of 38.8 million tons or 9.0 percent over the
previous year.
Total grain production and average yield of cereal
crops were an all time high. Average per-hectare grain yield was
4,620 kilograms, up 6.6 percent.
Total cotton production reached 6.32 million tons,
up 30 percent; oil-bearing seeds output was 30.57 million tons, up
8.8 percent; output of sugar-bearing crops was 95.28 million tons,
down by 1.2 percent; total meat output was 72.60 million tons, up
4.7 percent; and the output of aquatic and marine products amounted
to 48.55 million tons, up 3.2 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2005)