Ma Jiantang

Commissioner

National Bureau of Statistics of China

January 21, 2010

The year 2009 is the most difficult time for China's economic development in the new century. In face of the severe impact brought about by the global financial crisis in a century and the most complicated domestic and international situations, the Central Party Committee and the State Council sized up the situation, made scientific decision and headed the whole nation united as one to surmount the difficulties of our time; to stick to implement the proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy; and to fully implement and further improve the package plan targeting on tackling with the global financial crisis. All these lead to the holding back noticeable sliding of the economy, and the national economy recovered and moved toward a favorable direction.

According to preliminary estimation, the gross domestic product (GDP) for the year 2009 was 33,535.3 billion yuan, up by 8.7 percent at comparable prices, or 0.9 percentage points lower than that in the previous year. In terms of growth by quarters, it was up 6.2 percent for the first quarter, 7.9 percent growth for the second quarter, 9.1 percent for the third quarter and 10.7 percent for the last quarter. In terms of growth by sectors, the value added of the primary industry was 3,547.7 billion yuan, up by 4.2 percent; that of the secondary industry was 15,695.8 billion yuan, up by 9.5 percent; and that of the tertiary industry was 14,291.8 billion yuan, up by 8.9 percent.

I. Agricultural Production Continued to Develop Steadily with Increase in Grain Output for Consecutive Six Years. In 2009, the total output of grain reached 530.82 million tons, an increase of 0.4 percent over that in the previous year with an output increase for the sixth year. Of this total, the output of summer grain was 123.35 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.2 percent; the output of early rice was 33.27 million tons, a growth of 5.3 percent over that in the previous year; the output of autumn grain was 374.20 million tons, a year-on-year decline of 0.6 percent. The output of oil-bearing seeds is expected to grow around 5.0 percent and the output of sugar will drop by 9.0 percent. The output of meat maintained steady growth and the total output of meat in 2009 reached 75.09 million tons, up by 5.0 percent. Of this total, the output of pork was 48.89 million tons, up by 5.8 percent; the number of slaughtered pigs stood at 640 million, up by 5.7 percent, the total stocks of pigs were 470 million, rose by 1.5 percent.

II. Industrial Production Picked up Quarter by Quarter, Profits Made Reversed from Sharp Declining to Rising. In 2009, the value added of the industrial enterprises above the designated size was up by 11.0 percent, or 1.9 percentage points lower than that in 2008. Of which, the growth in the first quarter was 5.1 percent, that in the second quarter was 9.1 percent, 12.4 percent growth in the third quarter and 18.0 percent growth in the last quarter. Analysis on different types of enterprises showed that the value added of the state-owned and state holding enterprises went up by 6.9 percent; collective enterprises, up by 10.2 percent; share-holding enterprises, up by 13.3 percent; and 6.2 percent growth for the enterprises funded by foreign investors or investors from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The growth of the heavy industry was 11.5 percent and that of the light industry was 9.7 percent. Among the 39 industrial divisions, all witnessed growth over the previous year. In terms of different areas, the growth in eastern, central and western regions went up by 9.7 percent, 12.1 percent and 15.5 percent respectively. The production and marketing situation was good, the sales ratio was 97.67 percent for the industrial enterprises above the designated size.

In the first eleven months of 2009, the profits made by industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 2,589.1 billion yuan, up by 7.8 percent, over the same period of last year, which was 2.9 percentage points higher than that in the same period of last year. Among the 39 industrial divisions, 30 divisions registered year-on-year growth with profits.

III. Investment Continued to Grow fast, Investment in Areas Related to People’s Livelihood Speeded up Noticeably. In 2009, the total investment in fixed assets of the country reached 22,484.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 30.1 percent, with an increase of 4.6 percentage points over the previous year. Of this total, the fixed assets investment in urban areas was 19,413.9 billion yuan, up by 30.5 percent, or 4.4 percentage points higher; and that in rural areas was 3,070.7 billion yuan, up by 27.5 percent, or 6.0 percentage points higher. Of the fixed assets investment in urban areas, the growth of investment in the primary industry was 49.9 percent; that in the secondary industry was 26.8 percent and 33.0 percent for the tertiary industry. In terms of different areas, the investment in urban areas in eastern, central and western regions grew by 23.9 percent, 36.0 percent and 35.0 percent respectively. Investment in areas that related to the improvement of people’s livelihood increased by a large margin. The investment in infrastructure facilities (excluding electricity) for the whole year topped 4,191.3 billion yuan, up 44.3 percent. Of this total, the growth of investment in railway transportation was 67.5 percent; road transportation, 40.1 percent; urban public traffic, 59.7 percent; services to households and other services, 61.8 percent; education, 37.2 percent; health, social security and social welfare, 58.5 percent. The total investment in the real estate development for the year was 3,623.2 billion yuan, a growth of 16.1 percent, which was 4.8 percentage points lower than that in 2008.