Ｏｖｅｒａｌｌ Ｅｃｏｎｏｍｙ Ｒｕｎｓ ｉｎ Ｇｅａｒ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ Ｆｉｒｓｔ Ｈａｌｆ ｏｆ ２００５

In the first half of this year， regions anddepartments at all levels made all ef-forts in implementing the scientific ap-proach to development and various policiesset by the Central Party Committee and StateCouncil on economic work， with the aim toconsolidate and promote the achievementsbrought by macro-control. As a result， fairlygood overall economic performance was re-corded in the first half of this year， accordingto Zheng Jingping， Spokesman with NationalBureau of Statistics of China on 20 July 2005.

1. Stable and rapid economic growth. Ac-cording to preliminary estimation， the gross do-mestic product (GDP) of China in the first halfof this year was 6，742.2 billion yuan， a year-on-year change of 9.5%， it was 0. 2 percentage potntslower as compared with the growth rate for thefirst half of 2004. Of this total， the vahie-addedof the primary industry was 670.7 billion yuan，up by 5.0%; the value-added of the secondaryindustry was 3，963.5 billion yuan， upby 11.2%;and the value-added of the tertiary industry was2，108.0 billion yuan， up by 7.8%.

2. Encouraging agricultural productionwith bumper harvest of summer crops. Accord-ing to preliminary estimation， the total outputof summer grain roached 106.27 million tons，up by 5.1% oz' 5.12 million tons. Good harvestis also expected for the production of early rice.Rapid growth was seen in animal husbandryindustry; the year-on-year change of the totaloutput of meat was up by 6.2 %.

3. Rapid industrial production. In the firsthalf of this year， the total value-added of theindustrial enterprises above designated size was3，227.4 billion yuan， a year-on-year growth of16.4 % (it was 619.1 billion yuan in June， upby 16.8 %). Of this total， the growth of state-owned and state-controlled enterprises was 11.6 %， the growth of share-holding enterpriseswas 18 %， and that of enterprises funded byinvestments from foreign business or from HKSAR， Macao SAR and Taiwan province wasup by 15.7 %. The growth of heavy industrywas 16.9 % while that of the light industry was15.4 %. Analyzed by products， the power gen-eration and coal production was up by 13.2 %and 9.7 % respectively， the production of crudesteel and rolled steel rose by 28.3 % and 25.9%. The production of microcomputers and in-tegrate circuits rose by 61.3 % and 5.6 %. Theproduction of motor vehicles went up by 6.5%， of this total， that of cars rose by 5.2 %. Inthe first half of this year， the production andmarketing situation was good. The sales ratioof industrial enterprises at and above designatedsize was 97.54 %， or 0.3 percentage pointshigher than that in the same period last year.The growth rate of profits made by industrialenterprises declined. In the first 5 months ofthis year， the profits made by industrial enter-prises above designated size stood at 496.8 bil-lion yuan， a year-on-year change of 15.8 %， or 27.9 pementage points lower as compared withthe same period of 2004.

4. Comparatively stable growth of invest-ment in fixed assets. In the first half of this year，the total investment in fixed assets was 3，289.5billion yuan， a year-on-year rise of 25.4 %， or 3.2 percentage points lower as compared with thesame period of 2004. Of this total， the invest-ment in urban areas reached 2，796.7 billion yuan，up by 27.1%， or 3.9 percenfage points lower (itwas 824.8 billion yuan in June， up by 28.8 %)，and the growth of investment in mai estate de-velopment was 23.5 %， or 5.2 pemenfagepointslower (it was 154.9 billion yuan， up by 21.1 %in June). The investment in coal， electricity， oiland transportation had been enhanced. Amongwhich，the investment in coal mining and wash-ing grew by 81.7 % year-on-year， that of the ex-traction of petroleum and natural gas was up by36.2 %， that in production and supply ofelecnicity， gas and water went up by 35.9 % and48 % growth for railway construction.

5. Accelerated growth of consumptiondemand. In the first half of this year， the totalretail sales of consumer goods reached 2，96I.0 billion yuan， a year-on-year rise of 13.2 %，or a mai growth of 12 % if price factors werededucted， it was 1.8 percentage points higherthan that in the first half of 2004 (it was 493.5billion yuan in June， up by 12.9 %). Of thetotaI， the retail sales in cities reached 1，988.2billion yuan， up by 14.2 %， and the sales atcounty and below county level stood at 972.7billion yuan， up by I 1.1 %. Of the wholesaleand retail trade enterprises above designatedsize， the year-on-year growth of the retail salesof communication facilities was 20.0 %， thatof petroleum and related products went up by 37.4 %， and 9.7 % growth for motor vehicles.

6. Moderate growth of market prices. Theconsumer price index in the first half of this yearrose by 2.3 %， lower than that in the same pe-riod of last year， which stood at 3.6 %， repre-senting the trend of moderate rise. The CPI roseby 1.9 % in cities and 2.9 % in rural areas. Interms of commodity categories， prices for foodrose by 4.4 %， housing price was up by 5.7 %，and prices for recreation， education and culturearticles and services rose by 2.7 %. Prices forother categories ofcormnodities either maintainedthe same level or had slight decline. Looking atthe development of consumer prices， the growthrate slowed down steadily with its year-on-yeargrowth rate standing at 1.8 %， 1.8 % and 1.6 %in April， May and June (or declined by 0.3 %，0.2 % and 0.8 % respectively on month4o-month basis). The producer prices for industrialproducts grew by 5.6 % year-on-year (it was5.2 % in June)， the pumhaser's price for rawmaterial， fuel and power rose by 9.9 % (it was 9.0 % in June) which still running at a high level.

The above statistics show that the nationaleconomy continued to develop in the expecteddirection of macro-regulation and control. Theoverall situation is good. The prominent prob-lems of economic performance are: it is very dif-ficult to increase farmers'income; the total sizeof investment is too large and the structure isirrational; the economic efficiency of some in-dustries is not as good as that in the previous year;and the supply of coal， electricity， oil and trans-portation capacity is tight. As for the followingmonths of this year， so long as we continue toimplement macroeconomic policies of the cen-tral government， vigorously promote reform ofeconomic system， adjust economic structure andchange the pattern of economic growth， the eco-nomic performance for the whole year will main-rain its stable and rapid growth.