China“s economy “maintained rapid growth on a suitable scale” in 1996 according to preliminary statistics issued by the nation“s State Statistical Bureau with GDP rising by almost 10%.
The overall…
China“s economy “maintained rapid growth on a suitable scale” in 1996 according to preliminary statistics issued by the nation“s State Statistical Bureau with GDP rising by almost 10%. The overall value added industrial product rose by over 12%, while that of state enterprises rose by over 6%. “The outstanding problem of industrial enterprises was irrational structures”, the report commented. Losses by enterprises were described as “fairly serious”, and the ratio of losses to profit increased by 6.2 percentage points. Growth in eastern areas continued to outpace that western and central China. Access to the Internet increased nearly four-fold. The supply of consumer goods rose by nearly 20% while inflation was kept in check, although the price of services rose more steeply. Foreign-funded enterprises expanded and foreign exchange reserves rose markedly. The population rose by nearly 13 million to 1,223,890,000. Standards of environmental protection also improved. Industrial production maintained its steady growth. In 1996, the total added value of industry reached Rmb 2,858 billion, up 12.7% over the previous year. Of this total, the growth of state-owned enterprises was up 6.4%, that of collective enterprises up 17.4%, and that of joint ventures, contracted cooperation, and foreign enterprises up 13.1%. The growth of large and medium-sized enterprises went up 7.9%. The growth of light industry was about the same as that of heavy industry. In 1996, the added value of light industry was Rmb 1,193.8 billion, up 13.1% over the previous year, and that of heavy industry was Rmb 1,664.2 billion, up 12.4%. The output of major industrial products was as follows: Colour TV sets 21.09 million units (+2.5%) Soda ash 6.64 million tonnes (+11.2%) Motor vehicles 1.49 million units (+2.6%) Construction continued to develop steadily. In 1995, the added value of construction was Rmb 456.8 billion, an increase of 8.6% over the previous year, calculated in accordance with comparable prices. The total floor space of buildings completed was 114 million square metres, a decrease of 9.6% over the previous year. Foreign trade expanded. The year“s total imports and exports increased 3.2% over the year before, reaching US$ 289.9 billion. Total exports increased 1.5%, reaching US$ 151.1 billion, and total imports increased 5.1%, reaching US$ 138.8 billion. The mix of imports and exports became more rational with the export of mechano-electrical goods maintaining its position as China“s top export, rising from 29.5% a year before to 31.9%.As regards imports, the import of raw materials and energies in short supply in China, and communications equipment increased quite substantially. Foreign-funded enterprises“ imports and exports continued to increase by a great margin, reaching US$ 137.1 billion, or an increase of 24.8%. That accounted for 47.3% of the country“s total exports and imports, compared with 39.1% the previous year. The market became more pluralistic, with imports and exports to Oceania and Latin America increasing by 19.7% and 10%, respectively, which was higher than the increase in trade with other continents. The use of foreign capital increased steadily. The actual amount of foreign capital used in the year increased 14.2% over that of the preceding year, reaching US$ 55.27 billion. Of this amount, foreign businesses“ direct investments increased 12.2%, reaching US$ 42.35 billion. The number of economic and technical cooperation projects with foreign countries continued to increase. The money involved in newly signed construction and labour service contracts with foreign countries increased 6.2% over that of the year before, reaching US$ 10.27 billion; and the volume of business accomplished increased 16.8%, reaching US$ 7.7 billion.