Increasing Consumer Prices Boost Chinese GDP

The spokesman for the National Bureau of Statistics of China, Li Xiaochao, says the preliminary estimate of the gross domestic product of China in the first half of this year was RMB10.68 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 11.5 percent.

The first quarter GDP growth was 11.1 percent, and that for the second quarter was 11.9 percent. Of this total, the value added of the primary industries was RMB947 billion, up by 4.0 percent; the value added of the secondary industries was RMB5.55 trillion, up by 13.6 percent; and the value added of the tertiary industries was RMB4.18 trillion, up by 10.6 percent.

In the first half of this year, the year-on-year consumer prices grew by 3.2 percent, 1.9 percentage points higher than that in the same period last year. In terms of commodity categories, prices for food rose by 7.6 percent, of which grain went up by 6.4 percent, eggs by 27.9 percent, and meat and poultry and related products up by 20.7 percent. Prices for other categories of commodities either maintained the same level or had slight rise.

In the first half of this year, the retail prices of commodities rose by 2.4 percent year on year. The producer's prices for manufactured goods rose by 2.8 percent. The purchaser's prices for raw material, fuel and power rose by 3.8 percent.

Investment growth was running at a high level and the investment in central and western areas maintained rapid growth. In the first half of this year, the investment in fixed assets of the country was RMB5.41 trillion, up by 25.9 percent, or a drop of 3.9 percentage points as compared with the growth in the same period last year, or 2.2 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter of this year. In the first half of this year, the complete investment in central and western urban areas amounted to RMB1.11 trillion and RMB1 trillion, respectively, with year-on-year growth of 35.6 percent and 30.2 percent, all topping that of the eastern area which stood at 22.3 percent.