China GDP grew 9.9 pct in first three quarters: official
24/12/2008 17:18
A senior cabinet member supervising the national economy said in Beijing
today that China's economy grew 9.9 percent in the first three quarters of this
year.
Zhang Ping, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC), reported the implementation of the 11th Five-Year Plan
(2006-2010) on national economic and social development to the Standing
Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC).
Growth in the past two
years averaged 11.8 percent, which was above plan forecasts. Since 2006, the
country has created 30.28 million jobs, or 67 percent of the plan target, Zhang
said.
Consumer prices in the past two years increased by 3.1 percent
annually, which was deemed as a stable level, he said.
Service-sector
employment grew by 1 percentage point in the past two years, which was a little
slower than the government plan, Zhang said.
The ratio of research and
development spending to gross domestic product (GDP) in the past two years
increased by 0.15 percentage point, lower than the goal of about 0.13 percentage
point each year.
As of the end of 2007, Zhang said, the population had grown
by 0.52 percent annually to more than 1.32 billion.
Through last June, the
basic urban pension system covered 210 million residents, 73 percent of the
plan, Zhang said.
Summarizing the economic situation in the past two years,
Zhang said agriculture was strengthened, the industrial structure was upgraded,
regional development was coordinated, energy efficiency and emission reduction
made progress, innovation was encouraged, restructuring and deregulation
deepened and social benefits were emphasized.
"We are confronted with great
challenges resulting from a dramatic change in the world economic and financial
situation," Zhang said.
The international economic turmoil is expected to
last for a long time, resulting in an inevitable slump in the world economy,
Zhang said. Since China's trade accounts for two-thirds of its GDP, the global
slump will definitely hit the country, he said.
"If we are unable to properly
deal with the difficulties, we might be faced with grave risks in failing to
realize our strategic goals in economic and social development," he said.
The
government will stick to a "flexible and prudent" macroeconomic policy and
"active" fiscal and "moderately loose" monetary policies with combined measures
of tax cuts and expanded central government investment, said Zhang.
He added
that efforts should also be made to boost the capacity for innovation and
coordinated development, and to enhance reforms on resource prices and the tax
system.
"Sustainable development should be emphasized by promoting energy
conservation and emission reduction," Zhang said.
"Employment should be a
priority in the government agenda over the next two years," especially that of
migrant workers, some of whom lost jobs due to the economic slowdown," he
added.
Xinhua
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