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China's census surprise may help government policies
(bloomberg.com)
Updated: 2005-12-22 15:41 Tax Breaks
The Chinese government is cutting taxes and raising salaries for state workers to encourage
household spending while clamping down on investment in industries such as
aluminum and cement that led to supply gluts and strained China's transport and
power networks.
China's top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission,
Wednesday announced tax breaks for farm production, oil and gas exploration and
coal mining. The NDRC also said it will halt investment in aluminum projects and
copper smelters and forecast the nation's capacity to produce aluminum will
exceed demand by 2.6 million metric tons this year.
The latest census is part of attempts to overhaul China statistics to reflect
changes over the past 27 years as the country moved from central planning to a
market economy. Late leader Deng Xiaoping began open-market reforms in 1978,
ushering in an era of annual growth averaging 9.5 percent.
Final results will be incorporated into a new system that complies with the
United Nations' System of National Accounts, which sets international
statistical standards to measure economies.
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