ECONOMIC OUTLOOK:
The Chinese Economy:
Capital: Beijing
Currency: Chinese Yuan Renminbi (CNY)
Population: 1.3 billion (2001)
Main Economic Data
|
|||
Time (t) |
Real GDP Growth (GDP) (%) |
Unemployment Rate ¡V Urban (Uu) (%) |
Inflation Rate
(p) (%) |
1998 |
- |
- |
- |
1999 |
- |
- |
- |
2000 |
8.0 |
3.1 |
- |
2001Q1+ |
11.0 |
- |
- |
2001Q2+ |
7.8 |
- |
- |
2001Q3+ |
- |
- |
1.5 (Jul) |
2001Q4 |
- |
- |
- |
Other Economic Data
|
|||
Industrial Production (%)
|
8.1
(Jul/2001+) |
GDP Target = 7%
Uu = < 5%
p = Consumer Price Index (CPI)
+ Compared with the same month/quarter a year earlier
Interest Rates (i) 2001 |
||||
Month |
(%) |
DW (%) |
P (%) |
S (%) |
- |
- |
- |
- |
2.25 |
DW = Discount
Window; P = Prime Rate; S = Savings Rate
l
Since 1979, China has gradually opened its market for
foreign trade and investment and undertaken dramatic economic reforms. Its
economy has grown very impressively.
l
Assuming that China can maintain an annual growth
rate of 7-8%, it will take about 30 years for the country to catch up the
present US economy in terms of the size of GDP.
l
The population in China has reached 1.3 billion that
is the highest in the world.
l
The Chinese government has recently begun to devote
some resources in developing its western region.
l
Both China and Taiwan will official become a member
of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in December since China's inclusion comes
after 15 years of negotiations and Taiwan's after 12 years. However, Gordon
Chang, an American lawyer who has spent most of the last two decades in China,
said WTO entry and the market-opening required will hammer farms and factories
that are not reforming fast enough.
l China's ratio of expenditure on research and development (R&D) - which mainly includes the activities of basic scientific studies, applied technology research and corresponding experiments - ranks it at the top of developing countries, forming 1% of GDP last year. And R&D investment from enterprises accounts for 60% of the country's total.
Sources: China Daily; Hong Kong SAR Government Information Centre; The
Hong Kong Trade Development Council; Next Magazine