China Business

Oct 21, 2005

Chinese economy growing faster than expected

BEIJING - The Chinese economy grew a robust 9.4% in the first nine months, a spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics announced here October 20. The rate was faster than expected; most observers had predicted a median 9.2% rise.

Preliminary estimates show that China's gross domestic product (GDP) totaled 10.63 trillion yuan (US$1.3 trillion), a year-on-year rise of 9.4%, or 0.1 percentage point decline from the growth of a year earlier, said Zheng Jingping, the spokesman. Of this total,

primary industries registered a value-added of 1.35 trillion yuan, up 5%. The value-added of secondary industries (those involved in the processing of primary products) totaled 6.04 trillion yuan, up 11.1%, and that of the tertiary industry rose 8.1% to 3.23 trillion yuan.

The economy showed a steady growth momentum with GDP growth rates standing at 9.4%, 9.5% and 9.4% for the first, second and third quarter, respectively, Zheng said.

The high rate of increase has been attributed to increased consumer spending and infrastructure spending, especially for coal and railways. Areas where Chinese consumers boosted their spending included cell phones, travel and restaurant meals. As for infrastructure, the government has said that railways can meet only about half the requests for their services, and power shortages were once again frequent across China this summer.

(Asia Pulse/XIC)

China Travel

China Tours

Yangtze River Cruise

Great Wall of China

China Airline

Map of China

Head Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong Kong
Thailand Bureau: 11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110