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