China's economy as a whole took a turn for the better in 2000, and the annual social and economic development plan was satisfactorily implemented, Zeng Peiyan, minister in charge of the State Development Planning Commission, said Tuesday.
Zeng made the remarks in a report he delivered to the 4th Session of the Ninth National People's Congress, China's top law-making body, on the implementation of the 2000 Plan for National Economic and Social Development and on the Draft Plan for National Economic and Social Development for 2001.
The national economy continued to grow rapidly and there was continuous improvement in the quality of growth and in economic performance in 2000, he said.
China's GDP hit 8.9404 trillion yuan in 2000, up eight percent from the previous year, with the range of growth 0.9 percentage points higher than in the previous year. The general price level stopped falling, with the consumer price rising by 0.4 percent. Total profits of industrial enterprises of scale reached 426.2 billion yuan, an increase of 86.2 percent over the preceding year, with profits of state-owned or controlled enterprises rising 140 percent to 239.2 billion yuan. The sales rate of manufactured goods was 97.71 percent, 0.46 percentage points higher than in the previous year.
According to the minister, economic restructuring was going on vigorously and effective supply capacity increased. Fresh progress was registered in agricultural restructuring. The area of land sown to high-quality special wheat and early rice and soybeans was expanded by a good margin. Grain output totaled 462.5 billion kilograms despite serious drought conditions.
High-tech industries, a new growth area in the national economy, developed rapidly, the minister said.
Total output value of the telecommunications industry exceeded one trillion yuan for the first time, making the industry number one among all manufacturing industries. Production of mobile phones increased by 130 percent and production of semiconductor integrated circuits was up by 51.5 percent. China boasts the world's second largest fixed and mobile phone networks.
According to him, the technical creation system with enterprises as the main players and the cooperation between industry and universities were further strengthened, with 140,000 cooperative projects concluded.
Last year, the minister said, total fixed asset investment reached 3.2619 trillion yuan, an increase of 9.3 percent over the previous year. Capital investment in the electronics industry increased by 48.9 percent and in research and technical services, by 19.2 percent. Investment in technical upgrading rose by 13.2 percent. Investment in the western region increased by 14.4 percent, and the growth rate was 6.1 and 0.6 percentage points higher than that for the eastern and middle regions.
(Xinhua 03/06/2001)
