China: China's gross domestic product grew by 9.1 per cent in 2003, the highest growth rate since 1997, according to figures released yesterday in Beijing.
The country's GDP totalled a record 11.7 trillion Yuan or about €1.1 trillion in 2003, while average per capita GDP for the first time surpassed $1,000. The figures are good news for China's government, which had feared the effects of SARS could have dampened growth figures.
"This achievement is a hard-won, successful one after the outbreak of the SARS epidemic and frequent natural disasters," said government statistician Li Deshui, who forecast further rapid growth in 2004. He said growth in the coming year would be buoyed by high foreign direct investment and consumer demand in China. But China, he added, would also seek "a balance between social and economic development".
This is likely to mean Beijing will spend more resources dealing with worsening unemployment and rural poverty problems. Export growth is likely to slow in 2004, Prof Li warned, hinting at barriers placed on Chinese products by the US government: "This is because of the trade protectionism of some foreign countries, and the new tax refund policy we've adopted this year."
The method China has used this year to release its economic statistics has broken new ground in Beijing. Announcing the figures, Prof Li, commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, reminded reporters that China has stepped into line with other major economies by revising its growth data twice before releasing final figures.
The seemingly unstoppable pace of growth has fanned fears of overheating. State media in the last six months has paid much attention to over-investment in the red-hot car-manufacturing and property sectors.
Prof Li, China's top statistician, denied the country's economy is overheating and said major changes in government policy would be unnecessary.
Prof Li also dismissed the threat of inflation. Food prices rose by 1.2 per cent in 2003, offsetting falls in the price of manufactured goods. The efficiency of China's industries was a major cause for concern, however, the statistician said. China consumed 36 per cent of the world's steel supply in 2003, as well as 30 per cent of global coal supplies and 55 per cent of world cement output.
The figures suggested China's industries suffer from poor efficiency in their use of these resources, admitted Prof Li. Meanwhile, shortages in electric power, coal, petroleum and transport infrastructure created bottlenecks in the economy.