3. Investment in fixed assets accelerated with improved investment structure. In the first quarter of this year, the investment in fixed assets of the country was 2,812.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 28.8 percent, or a rise of 4.2 percentage points as compared with the growth in the same period last year. The investment in urban areas reached 2,356.2 billion yuan, up by 28.6 percent (up by 30.3 percent in March), or 2.7 percentage points higher while that in rural areas was 456.7 billion yuan, up by 29.4 percent, or a rise of 11.1 percentage points. Of the total investment in fixed assets in urban areas, that in the primary industry, the secondary industry and the tertiary industry in urban areas went up by 85.0 percent, 26.8 percent and 29.1 percent respectively, which showed that the growth in the primary and tertiary industries were higher than that in the secondary industry. The investment in eastern, central and western areas grew by 19.8 percent, 34.3 percent and 46.1 percent respectively. The growth of investment in central and western regions was apparently faster than that in eastern region.

4. Sales on domestic markets enjoyed steady and fast growth and the sales at or below county level were faster than that in urban areas. In the first quarter, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 2,939.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 15.0 percent (up by 14.7 percent in March), and the real growth was 15.9 percent after deducting the price factors, which was 3.6 percentage points higher than that in the same period last year and 1.1 percentage points higher that that in the whole previous year. The retail sales in cities reached 1,983.4 billion yuan, up by 14.1 percent, and the retail sales at and below county level stood at 956.4 billion yuan, up by 17.0 percent. Among the sales by wholesale and retail businesses above designated size, the sales of furniture went up by 24.1 percent, that of construction and decoration materials 20.2 percent and that of vehicles 11.1 percent.

5. The year-on-year change of consumer prices went down, and the month-on-month change of producers’ prices for manufactured goods dropped with narrowed margin. In the first quarter of this year, the consumer price index went down by 0.6 percent (down by 1.2 percent year-on-year and 0.3 month-on-month in March). The price declined by 0.9 percent in cities and that in rural areas maintained the same level over the same period last year. Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food rose by 0.5 percent, prices for tobacco, liquor and articles up by 2.0 percent, household facilities, articles and maintenance services up by 2.1 percent, health care and personal articles up by 1.3 percent; prices for clothing down by 2.4 percent, transportation and communication down by 2.7 percent, recreation, education, culture articles and services down by 0.5 percent, and housing down by 2.9 percent. In the first quarter of this year, the retail prices of commodities went down by 0.8 percent year on year (down by 1.5 percent in March). The producer’s prices for manufactured goods witnessed a declined of 4.6 percent year on year, however, the decrease rate was narrowing down month by month. Of this total, the month on month change of prices went down 1.4 percent in January, 0.7 percent in February and 0.3 percent in March. The purchaser’s prices for raw materials, fuel and power down by 7.1 percent (by 8.9 percent in March). The year-on-year growth of the prices for housing went down by 1.1 percent (down by 1.3 percent in March).

6. The foreign trade dropped sharply and the foreign direct investment actually utilized decreased. The total value of imports and exports for the first quarter was US$ 428.7 billion, down by 24.9 percent year-on-year. The value of exports was US$ 245.5 billion, down by 19.7 percent, and the value of imports was US$ 183.2 billion, down 30.9 percent. The trade surplus was US$ 62.3 billion, an increase of US$ 20.9 billion over the same period last year. In the first quarter of this year, the total value of foreign direct investment actually utilized was US$ 21.8 billion, a year-on-year decrease of US$ 5.6 billion.