Highlights:
| China growth reaches 13-year high |
Still importing heaps, including capital goods.
| China’s 11.2% Fourth-Quarter GDP Gain Props Up Global Growth as U.S. Slows |
| China’s consumer price index rises 4.8 pct in 2007 |
Inflation is ripping, meaning higher prices for the rest of the world.
| Yuan Rises to Highest Since Link to Dollar; Fitch Calls for Faster Gains |
Meaning higher prices for US consumers.
| Fixed asset investment up 24.8%, industiral output up 18.5% |
| China’s industrial output up 18.5% last year |
Not too shabby.
Articles:
China growth reaches 13-year high
Building and infrastructure projects are fuelling economic growth.
The Chinese economy has expanded by 11.4% over the past year, reaching its fastest growth rate in 13 years, officials have announced.
Increased exports and a boom in the construction industry helped the rapid expansion during 2007.
But officials warned that overheating remained a danger, despite a slight slow-down in the fourth quarter.
Inflation is also a serious concern, with many Chinese people hit by recent dramatic increases in food prices.
‘Still developing’
Announcing the figures, National Statistics Bureau chief Xie Fuzhan said Beijing was paying “close attention” to the US credit crisis.
He said Beijing would respond by making “timely and proper adjustments” in exchange and interest rate policy, but gave no details.
Speculation has been mounting among analysts over whether China has overtaken Germany to become the world’s third-largest economy.
But Mr Xie played down the comparison, saying: “It’s not really important to know whether China is the fourth-largest or the third-largest.
“Even if the total surpasses Germany, China is still a developing country – in particular, the per capita GDP of China is really low.”
China’s 11.2% Fourth-Quarter GDP Gain Props Up Global Growth as U.S. Slows
(Bloomberg) China’s economy expanded more than 11 percent for the fourth straight quarter, supporting global growth as a recession looms in the U.S. Gross domestic product rose 11.2 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with 11.5 percent in the third quarter, the statistics bureau said in Beijing today.
Industiral output up 18.5%
Industrial output jumped by 18.5 percent last year, 1.9 percentage points higher over a year earlier.
The industrial output at companies with annual revenue of at least five million yuan (US$691,600) expanded by 17.4 percent in December, compared with 17.3 percent in November.
The output growth rates were 13.8 percent for the state-owned enterprises and those in which the state holds controlling stakes and 17.5 percent for companies invested by foreign, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan businessmen, Xie said.
The companies sold 98.1 percent of the goods they produced last year.
Industrial output growth decelerated from September onward, as the government’s tightening measures took effect. The year-on-year growth figures for September and October were 18.9 percent and 17.9 percent, respectively.
Output growth rates were 13.8 percent for state-owned enterprises and organizations in which the state holds controlling stakes and 17.5 percent for foreign-, Hong Kong-, Macao- and Taiwan-invested businesses, Xie told press conference in Beijing.
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