National economic performance in the first half of this year

National economic was good in the first half of this year. The main feature is as follows:

I. The national economy kept fast and steadily. According to the preliminary statistics, GDP reached 4553.6 billion yuan in the first half of this year, up by 7.8 percent year on year. Analyzed by quarter, the GDP of the first quarter went up by 7.6 percent, that of the second quarter up 8 percent showing a slight rebound .Of the total, the value-added from the primary industry was 463.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 2.6 percent, that from the second industry was 2508.2 billion yuan, up by 9.6 percent, that from the tertiary industry was 1582 billion yuan, up by 6.6 percent.

II. The agricultural output continued to grow in the structure adjustment. Affected by early spring drought and latr low-temperature & plenty-of-rain, the output of summer grain reduced to some extent. According to the actual measure of actual harvest, the national yield of summer grain reached 98.75 million tons, down by 2.9 percent over last year. The structure of agricultural production continued to improve and the output of agricultural products with high quality increased. The sown area of high quality wheat rose by 16 percent, that of high quality rape went up by 16.7 percent. The regional structure of crop-raising presented a positive change: reduce the grain area in the eastern and coastal region, develop economic crops and agriculture of export and adding exchange ; expand the production of high quality and special purposes grain leaded by market in the central region, cut down the cotton area; speed up the development of the agriculture with special characteristics and good benefit in the western region, the areas of vegetables, melons, fruits , tobaccos and medicine materials went up to different extents.

III. Industrial production grew fast. In the first half of this year, the national state-owned industrial enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises with an annual sale income over 5 million yuan created 1446 billion yuan, up by 11.7 percent year-on-year and 0.7 percentage points higher over the same period of last year. All ownership types of industry grew steadily, of which, the production of the state-owned and state holding enterprises went up by 10 percent, that of the collective-owned enterprises rose by 8.3 percent, that of the share cooperative enterprises was up by 13 percent,  that of enterprises funded by the state, collectives and foreigners was up y 12.2 percent. The electronic and communications equipment manufacturing and transport equipment manufacturing are the main industries that drive the industry to grow fast. The products outputs for investment and export grew faster. 

IV. The investment in fixed assets showed a strong increasing momentum .In the first half year, the total investment in fixed assets reached 1446.2 billion yuan, up by 21.5% year-on-year and 6.4 percentage points higher than the growth rate of the same period of last year. Of the total, the investment in primary industry began to rise,a year-on-year rise of 25.6 percent; the intensity of the investment in secondary industry enhanced significantly, up by 25.3 percent; the investment in tertiary industry went up by 23.8 percent, a slowing growth. The investments in all kinds of ownership types economy all grew fast, of which, the investment in the state-owned and other kind of ownership types economy increased by 24.4 percent, that from the collectives rose by 25.8 percent, that from individuals went up by 19.4 percent. The investments in capital construction and real estate were up by 23 percent and 32.9 percent respectively, that in innovation rose by 16.1 percent, that in the eastern and central regions went up by 22.9 percent and 26.7 percent respectively, that in the western region increased by 20.9 percent.

V. The sales in the domestic market kept stable and the market price is low. Since the beginning of this year, the consumer confidence has enhanced while keeping the relative stabilization, in addition, the households¡¯ income grew fast, so the consumption in the domestic market was steady. In the first half year, the retail sale of consumer goods reached 1944.8 billion yuan, up by 8.6 percent. Of the total, the retail sale of urban consumer goods was 1229.2 billion yuan, up by 9.7 percent; that of rural consumer goods was 715.7 billion yuan,up by 6.7 percent. The sales of wholesale & retail trade and catering trade rose by 8.5 percent and 15.9 percent respectively.

   In the first half of this year, consumer price index went down by 0.8 percent. Except the prices of services such as recreation, education, cultural articles and related services, housing, tobaccos and utilities went up, the price of foods went down by 0.9 percent, that of clothes, house equipments, medical care and articles for individual using, transport and communications declined between 1.1 and 2.4 percent. The ex-factory price of industrial products was down by 3.4 percent, the purchase price of raw materials, fuel and drive power decreased by 3.9 percent.But in the two latest months, the price decline in the market has reduced to some extent.

VI. The growth of foreign trade sped up and foreign capital utilization kept grew fast. With the recovery of the world economy,the further improvement of the development environment after China¡¯s access to WTO and implementing the measures related with foreign economy and cooperation, the foreign trade of China showed a fast growth this year. In the first half year, the import and export value was 270.7 billion US$, up by 12.3 percent ,of which, the export value was 142.1 billion US$,a rise of 14.1 percent; the import value was 128.7 billion US$, up by 10.4 percent. In the import and export, the common trade rose by 12.5 percent, the processing trade increased by 15 percent, the export to USA, ASEAN ,Korea and Hongkong grew  with a faster speed, the export to Japan and EU grew with a reduced speed. After the export is offset by import, the surplus was 13.4 billion US$,up by 5.4 billion US$ year-on-year.

  The utilization in foreign capital kept faster growth. In the first half year, the contracted value from the foreign direct investment was 44 billion US$,up by 31.5 percent;actually used foreign direct investment was 24.6 billion US$,up by 18.7 percent. With the continuous surplus of foreign trade and the incessant rise of foreign investment,the foreign exchange reserve continued to go up greatly. At the end of June, the foreign exchange reserve was 242.8 billion US$, an increase of 30.6 billion US$ over the beginning of this year. The exchange rate of RMB is basically steady.

VII. The condition of the economic benefit of enterprises turn better gradually.Influenced by the speed-up of economic growth rate and the rising of petroleum price in the steadiness, the profit created by the industrial enterprises began to increase getting rid of the decline ,and in April and May their profit went up by 15.5 percent, the accumulated profit from January to May was 175 billion yuan,up by 2.8 percent. The growth of the loss made by loss-making enterprises reduced little by little. From January to May, the loss from the loss-making enterprises went up by 9.9 percent over the same period of last year, with the loss growth rate 4.5 percentage points lower than that from January to March.

VIII. The incomes of urban and rural households grew faster. In the first half year, per capita average disposable income of urban households was 3942 yuan, deducting the price change, the actual rise was 17.5 percent, significantly higher than the growth rate of 5.5 percent of the same period of last year. Last year, the gradually carry-out of the policy of enhancing the salary and the implementation of two-assurances were the main reasons of the great increase in the disposable income of urban households. In the first half year, per capita average cash income of rural households was 1123 yuan, eliminating the price factor, the actual increase was 5.9 percent ,up by 1.7 percentage points. The rise of the farmers¡¯ cash income was due to the fast growth of the revenue from selling agricultural and husbandry products .From January to June, per capita income from selling agricultural and husbandry products  rose by 30 yuan , 50 percent of the increment of the cash income.

     At the end of June, the balance of saving deposit of urban households reached 8171.2 billion yuan, a rise of 803.4 billion yuan over the year-beginning.

  The above conditions showed the national economy kept the steady and fast growth in the first half year in a good condition and made a excellent foundation for realizing the goal of 7 percent in the economic growth . But there are still some problems worth noticing in the development, which are mainly slowing growth of fiscal revenue , low prices, greater number of unemployed persons, the slow increase of rural demand and occurrence of serious or more serious security accidents.