Home>News Center>China
       
 

China increases size of economy, no policy change
By Xu Dashan (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-12-21 06:02

China has revised the size of the economy last year, saying gross domestic product (GDP) was 16.8 per cent higher than previously reported mainly because the service sector was not fully taken into account.


Li Deshui, director of the National Bureau of Statistics.
The country raised the GDP in 2004 to 15.99 trillion yuan (US$1.93 trillion) from 13.65 trillion (US$1.64 trillion) based on the results of the country's first nationwide economic census.

The revision lifts China above Italy as the sixth-biggest economy in the world last year. The top five are the United States, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

Li Deshui, commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics, said yesterday that services accounted for 93 per cent of the revision.

The sector's output was revised to 6.5 trillion yuan (US$785 billion) from the previous estimate of 4.4 trillion yuan (US$531.4 billion).

The government will not change its macro-economic policies, he said, adding the previous data basically reflect the overall level and trend of the country's social and economic development.

The government will also not change its foreign-exchange regime just because the country's aggregated size of GDP increased, he said.

After the number-crunching, the ratio of the service sector to GDP in 2004 rose from 31.9 per cent to 40.7 per cent.

The ratio of manufacturing and construction fell to 46.2 per cent from 52.9 per cent; and the share of agriculture shrank to 13.1 per cent from 15.2 per cent.

The economic census helped identify service activities that were not covered before, so the structure of the three sectors is more in tune with the ground reality and in line with the general level of developing countries, Li said.

The government would revise annual GDP growth rates back to 1993 in light of the results from the census, he said.

"Although the aggregated size of China's GDP increased 16.8 per cent, and its economic rankings moved ahead a little, the country still ranks below the top 100 in economic output per person," Li said. "Per capita GDP in China accounted for only about one-fifth of the world's average."
Page: 12



Up in flames
Heavy snow paralyzes cities' traffic
Third heavy snowfall hits Shandong
  Today's Top News     Top China News
 

HK opposition vote down election reform package

 

   
 

South China river polluted with cadmium spill

 

   
 

Tax breaks offered for energy industry

 

   
 

Measures urged to close income gap

 

   
 

Saddam claims he was 'beaten by Americans'

 

   
 

28 infected with HIV after illegal blood sales

 

   
  28 infected with HIV after illegal blood sales
   
  Spring Festival trips to hit 2 billion
   
  South China river polluted with cadmium spill
   
  HK opposition 'should be held liable' for reform failure
   
  HK opposition lawmakers sink reform package
   
  China starts human trials of bird flu vaccine
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  News Talk  
  It is time to prepare for Beijing - 2008  
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement