Since January 2009, China has conscientiously carried out the package plan formulated by the Central Government on further expanding domestic demand and maintaining the steady and rapid growth of the national economy, resulting in positive changes in the operation of the national economy. According to preliminary calculation, during the first quarter the GDP reached 6574.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.1% calculated at comparable price and the increase rate posted a drop of 4.5 percentage points over the same period of the previous year. Of this total, the added value of the primary industry reached 470 billion yuan, up 3.5%; the added value of the secondary industry reached 3196.8 billion yuan, up 5.3%; the added value of the tertiary industry reached 2907.7 billion yuan, up 7.4%.

Industry

Industrial production remained stable and the enterprises saw an overall reduction of their profits. In the first quarter, the added value of the industries above the designated size increased by 5.1% year on year, and the increase rate was down by 11.3 percentage points from the same period of the previous year. The added value realized in January and February increased by 3.8% and that in March saw an increase of 8.3%. In terms of light and heavy industries, the added value of the heavy industry rose by 4.5%, while that of the light industry up by 6.8%. In terms of the economic type, the added value of the state-owned and the state holding enterprises increased by 0.1%, that of the collectively-owned enterprises up by 3.5%, that of the joint-stock enterprises up by 7.7% and that of the foreign-invested and the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan-funded enterprises down by 1.4%.

 

Of 39 major industrial categories, 33 industries maintained their growth, with the other 6 registering a downturn. Of them, the added value of the textile industry grew by 6.1%, that of chemical raw material and chemicals manufacturing sectors up by 3.7％, that of the nonmetallic minerals manufacturing sector up by 10.8％, that of the ferrous metal smelting, rolling and processing sectors up by 0.3％, that of the general-purpose equipment manufacturing sector up by 6.8%, that of the communication and transportation equipment manufacturing sectors up by 2.8％, that of the electric machinery and device manufacturing sectors up by 9.5％, that of the communication equipment, computer and other electronic equipment manufacturing sectors down by 5.3% and that of the electric power and heat producing and supplying sectors up by 1.5％.

In terms of the major products, the output of raw coal reached 600 million tons, up 6.3% year on year; the output of crude oil and the electric energy production amounted to 50 million tons and 779.7 billion kilowatt-hours, down by 1.6% and 2.0%, respectively; the output of pig iron, coarse steel and steel products reached 122.38 million tons, 127.44 million tons and 144.73 million tons respectively, up by 4.3%, 1.4% and 2.8%, respectively; the cement output registered 280 million tons, up by 12.9%; the number of automobiles manufactured reached 2.67 million, up by 3.7%, of which the number of sedans reached 1.36 million, down by 0.3%.

By region, the added value fulfilled by the eastern region grew by 3.7%, that of the central region up by 5.2% and that of the western region up by 11.8%. The industrial production and sales were both done well. During the first quarter, the selling rate of the products produced by industrial enterprises registered 97.07%, down 0.72 percentage points from a year ago. The industrial enterprises realized a total value of delivered goods hitting 1452.9 billion yuan, down by 16.0%, year on year.

From January to February, the nationwide industries above the designated size realized a profit of 219.1 billion yuan, down by 37.3% from a year ago. Of 39 major industrial categories, profits earned by 23 industries reduced and 4 industries incurred losses. Nonetheless, some industries still maintained their growth or turned losses into gains. The textile and garment industries increased their profits by 15.6% and the furniture manufacturing industry raised theirs by 24.7%. The oil processing and coking industries turned their 19.4 billion yuan of net losses incurred last year into a profit of 11.7 billion yuan.

Fixed Asset Investment

Growth of the fixed asset investment accelerated and the investment structure improved. During the first quarter, the fixed asset investment of the whole society amounted to 2812.9 billion yuan, up by 28.8%, year on year, accelerating by 4.2 percentage points over the same period of last year. Of this total, the urban fixed asset investment reached 2356.2 billion yuan, up by 28.6% (up by 30.3% in March), accelerating by 2.7 percentage points; the rural fixed asset investment reached 456.7 billion yuan, up by 29.4%, accelerating by 11.1 percentage points.

Of urban fixed asset investment, the state-owned and the state-holding investment contributed 1003.6 billion yuan, up by 37.7% over last year; the investment in real estate development amounted to 488 billion yuan, up by 4.1%. By industry, the investment in primary, secondary and tertiary industries amounted to 33.2 billion yuan, 1018 billion yuan and 1305 billion yuan respectively. The investment in the primary and tertiary industries grew faster than the investment in the secondary industry, with the investment in those industries growing by 85.0%, 26.8% and 29.1%, respectively.

By industry, the investment in coal mining and ore dressing industries totaled 26.1 billion yuan, up by 47.5%, year on year; the investment in electric power and heat producing and supplying industries reached 135.8 billion yuan, up by 15.2%; the investment in oil and gas exploiting industries registered 30.7 billion yuan, up by 16.6%; the investment in rail transportation amounted to 54.6 billion yuan, up by 102%; the investment in the excavating and manufacturing of nonmetallic minerals amounted to 76.9 billion yuan, up by 58%; the investment in the excavating, smelting, rolling and processing of ferrous metals amounted to 50.3 billion yuan, up by 0.3%; the investment in the excavating, smelting, rolling and processing of nonferrous metals amounted to 32.8 billion yuan, up by 19.5%.

By region, the investment in China's central and western regions grew faster than the investment in the eastern region, with the urban investment in the eastern region up by 19.8%, the investment in the central region up by 34.3% and the investment in the western region up by 46.1%.

Finance

Money credit supply grew fast and foreign exchange reserves increased. By the end of March 2009, the balance of broad money supply (M2) had reached 53.06 trillion yuan, up by 25.51% from a year ago; the balance of narrow money supply (M1) had reached 17.65 trillion yuan, up by 17.04％, year on year; the balance of the money in circulation on the market (M0) had reached 3.37 trillion yuan, up by 10.88％, year on year.

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