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Major Macro Economic Statistics
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| Growth indexes | Price indexes | ||||||||||||
| Industrial output: +14.1% in Jan-Feb | CPI:+4.9% PPI:+7.2% | ||||||||||||
| Retail sales:+15.8% in Jan-Feb | PMI: +52.2% | ||||||||||||
| Urban fixed-asset investment:+24.9% in Jan-Feb | Housing prices: | ||||||||||||
| FDI: +32.2% | Foreign trade indexes | ||||||||||||
| Financial indexes | Import:+19.4% | ||||||||||||
| New loans:535.6 billion yuan | Export:+2.4% | ||||||||||||
| M2: +15.7% | Trade balance:$7.3b in deficit | ||||||||||||
| Fiscal revenue:+41.5% | |||||||||||||
| Data and Graphic | |||||||||||||
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China Feb CPI up 4.9%
China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 4.9 percent year-on-year in February, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Friday. The increase was the same as January's. China's January inflation figure remained stubbornly high at 4.9 percent despite a series of measures taken to curb price rises. The growth accelerated from 4.6 percent in December but was lower than the 28-month high of 5.1 percent in November. [Full story] | ||||||||||||
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China's PPI up 7.2% in February
China's producer price index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 7.2 percent in February from a year earlier, the highest level since October 2008, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Friday. The February PPI was 0.8 percent higher month-on-month, while the year-on-year growth was 0.6 percentage points higher than the January level, said Sheng Laiyun, a spokesman with the NBS at a press conference. For the first two months of this year, the PPI climbed 6.9 percent year-on-year, said Sheng. [Full story] | ||||||||||||
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Jan-Feb industrial output up 14.1%
China's industrial value-added output grew 14.1 percent in the first two months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Friday. The growth rate during the first two months was up 0.6 percentage points compared to that in December last year, according to the figures released by the NBS. During the period, industrial value-added output for heavy industries rose 14.4 percent from one year earlier, and that for light industries was up 13.3 percent. [Full story] | ||||||||||||
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Jan-Feb fixed asset investment up 24.9%
China's fixed asset investment rose 24.9 percent in the first two months of this year to reach 1.7444 trillion yuan ($264 billion), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Friday. During the period, investment in the primary, secondary and tertiary industries rose 6.9 percent, 24.7 percent and 25.6 percent, respectively, according to figures released by the NBS. Investment in central government projects rose 6.3 percent year-on-year to 138.5 billion yuan, while investment in local government projects jumped 26.9 percent to reach 1.606 trillion yuan, the figures showed. [Full story] | ||||||||||||
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Retail sales up 15.8% in first two months
China's retail sales rose 15.8 percent year-on-year to 2.9018 trillion yuan ($441.67 billion) in the first two months of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced Friday. Despite a spending spree during the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, the growth was 3.3 percentage points lower than December's level. Urban retail sales of consumer goods topped 2.5173 trillion yuan in the January-February period, up 15.9 percent year-on-year, while retail sales in rural areas rose 15.4 percent to 384.5 billion yuan from a year earlier, according Sheng Laiyun, spokesman with the NBS. [Full story] | ||||||||||||
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China's trade deficit hits $7.3b in Feb China recorded a trade deficit of $7.3 billion in February, the General Administration of Customs(GAC) said Thursday. This is China's first monthly trade deficit since March 2010. In the first two months this year, China posted a trade deficit of $890 million, as January's trade surplus shrank year-on-year by more than half to $6.45 billion. The GAC attributed the deficit to the week-long Spring Festival break in early February, saying the holiday had hindered export growth. China's foreign trade rose by 10.6 percent year-on-year to $200.78 billion last month, said the customs. Exports grew by 2.4 percent year-on-year to $96.74 billion in February while imports increased by 19.4 percent to $104.04 billion. [Full story] | ||||||||||||
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China's February new loans hit 535.6b yuan
The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, said Monday that new yuan-denominated loans stood at 535.6 billion yuan ($81.52b) in February. The figure was 192.9 billion yuan less than February last year, said the PBOC in a statement on its website. By the end of February, the balance of outstanding yuan-denominated loans stood at 48.89 trillion yuan, up 17.7 percent from a year earlier. The rise was 9.5 percentage points lower than the rise a year earlier. China's broad money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 15.7 percent year on year to 73.61 trillion yuan by the end of February.[Full story] | ||||||||||||
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China's Feb fiscal revenue surges 41.5% China's fiscal revenue jumped 41.5 percent year-on-year in February to 699.7 billion yuan ($106.5 billion), the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said Monday. Of the February fiscal revenue, the central government collected 375.53 billion yuan, up 50.8 percent from the previous year, while local governments gathered 324.17 billion yuan, the MOF said in a statement on its website. The February took the January-February figure to 1.85 trillion yuan, up 36 percent from last year' same period. The MOF attributed the strong fiscal revenue growth to big increases in imports-related taxes, as well as rapid economic growth and price hikes. [Full story] | ||||||||||||
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China's February FDI up 32.2% year-on-year Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China accelerated by 32.2 percent year-on-year to $7.8 billion in February, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Tuesday. The February FDI inflow was less than January's $10.03 billion and the number of newly-approved foreign-funded companies also fell in the month due to a week-long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, MOC said in a brief statement on its website. Compared with 2,243 new foreign-funded enterprises in January, only 1,156 new foreign-invested enterprises were approved in February, down 10.9 percent from the same period of last year. [Full story] | ||||||||||||
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Comments and Opinions | |||||||||||||
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February inflation exceeded estimates
China's inflation index exceeded expectations in February because of high food prices. Economists expect it to continue climbing in the coming months. Expectations for the month ranged from 4.6 percent to 4.8 percent. The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 4.9 percent year-on-year in February, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday. That's unchanged from the January figure, but higher than the 4.6 percent registered in December. [Full story] | |||||||||||||
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Steadied inflation
With consumer inflation leveling off in February, policymakers have got more elbow room to check prices from rising further, a top priority for them this year. Latest statistics show the consumer price index (CPI), a major gauge of inflation, rose 4.9 percent in February over the same month last year. The rate of increase in January was the same. Though still above the official goal of 4 percent, the new inflation figure raises hopes that the government will succeed in keeping overall prices stable this year. And if that turns out to be true, the second largest economy's success will help the rest of the world to ease price pressures without unduly harming growth. [Full story] | |||||||||||||
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Mainland Jan-Feb data to reveal slower growth
Major economic indicators expected to be released this week will likely show a broad-based slowdown in year-on-year (YoY) growth due to moderating growth momentum and a high base of comparison to the same period in 2010. The National Bureau of Statistics will release the first set of major economic activity indicators of 2011 this Thursday and Friday. The January-February data for industrial production, fixed asset investment and retail sales will be averaged out to remove distortions from the week-long Chinese New Year holiday's. The February CPI inflation figures are expected to edge down to 4.8 percent YoY on slowing food price inflation, but the PPI inflation could have inched up to 6.9 percent on higher energy and commodity prices. [Full story] | |||||||||||||
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Not easy task to achieve high-quality, efficient 7% growth
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday that it is not easy to achieve a high-quality and efficient annual growth rate of seven percent during the 2011-2015 period. Given China's increasingly large economic aggregate and the need to raise the quality and efficiency of its growth, "a seven-percent growth rate is not a low target," Wen told a press conference after the conclusion of the annual parliamentary session. China lowers its annual economic growth target to seven percent for the period of 2011-2015 from the target of 7.5 percent for the previous five years, according to the new five-year program adopted by the top legislature. [Full story] | |||||||||||||
