China's economy grew 10.2 per cent last year, instead of the previously
announced 9.9 per cent, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced
yesterday with the difference in monetary terms amounting to nearly US$10
billion.
The bureau revised the 2005 gross domestic product from 18.2321 trillion yuan
(US$2.279 trillion), as announced in January, to 18.3085 trillion yuan (US$2.289
trillion).
The difference was mainly contributed by manufacturing, mining and
agriculture while growth in the services, or tertiary, industry was smaller than
previously thought.
The service industry totalled some 7.339 trillion yuan (US$917.37 billion) in
NBS' January report, but was revised to 7.296 trillion yuan (US$912 billion).
It made up nearly 39.9 per cent of the economy, instead of some 40 per cent
as indicated by the January data.
In a similar revision of growth in 2004, announced at the end of last year,
GDP was 16.8 per cent higher than earlier estimates, to notch up about US$2
trillion.
But the difference then was that services made up a whopping 93 per cent of
the expanded growth.
The nation relies on the services industry to create jobs, especially in
urban areas where the government wants to keep the jobless rate below 4.5 per
cent.
Last year, the economy appeared more dependent on manufacturing, which made
up 47.5 per cent of GDP with farming and affiliated operations contributing 12.6
per cent.
According to NBS' January data, in 2005, value-added output of the primary
industry, which combines agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries,
was 2.2718 trillion yuan (US$284 billion). The figure is now revised to 2.307
trillion yuan (US$288 billion).
The value-added output of the secondary industry, which includes mining,
manufacturing, generation and supply of electricity, gas and water, and
construction, was 8.6208 trillion yuan (US$1.078 trillion). The figure has risen
to 8.7047 trillion yuan (US$1.088 trillion).
While announcing the revision of some of the general figures, the NBS did not
mention when a final report of 2005 economic data would be published.
According to a new practice of measuring the economy, the NBS releases three
reports each year the first, called preliminary account, the second, called
preliminary confirmation, and the last, final account. Yesterday's report was
preliminary confirmation.
From time to time, the central government's economic statistics can be
markedly lower compared with the aggregate of figures released by regional
governments.
However, according to Qiu Xiaohua, director of the NBS, the differences
between the central government's data and those from the regional governments
are not only caused by the latter's attempts to inflate their growth.
The differences, he said earlier, may also be caused by cross-region
investments and supply-chain movements, by region-to-region price
differentiations, by the weight of certain types of production in one region
which may be insignificant at the national level.
(China Daily 08/31/2006 page1)
