China's current economic situation is good, according to a State Council
executive meeting held in Beijing yesterday.
Participants in the meeting, presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao, agreed the
nation's economy continued to develop in the direction guided by the
government's macro-control and maintained a stable and fast growth.
The meeting, however, did not disclose the economic growth figure for the
first quarter.
Researcher Wang Zhao of the State Council Development Research Centre said
China's first quarter gross domestic product is likely to grow by about 9 per
cent.
"The country's economy has stepped into a stable development period," he
said.
However, the economy would not maintain a growth rate as high as last year's
which stood at 9.5 per cent, because the nation's money supply has dropped.
Earlier figures from the People's Bank of China suggested that the broad
money supply or the M2 grew year-on-year by 13.9 per cent at the end of
February, dropping from the 14.6 per cent at the end of last year.
According to the executive meeting, some prominent problems existing in the
current economy have not been rooted out.
There were also new problems and issues. Participants to the meeting said the
country may have difficulties in maintaining an increase in both agricultural
production and rural people's incomes. Fixed asset investment continued to grow
at a fast rate, while constraints on coal, electricity and transportation were
still factors, they agreed.
(China Daily) |