CHINA> National
Chinese economy expected to stable, fast growth
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-27 19:55

Over the past 30 years, China's urban population expanded from 170 million to 570 million. But the urbanization ratio, measured by the number of urbanites against total population in a city, stood at 44 percent at present, still far behind the 70 percent to 90 percent of developed nations.

The multitudes of migrants coming to cities would create a huge demand for housing and consumption goods, such as home electrical appliances, so urbanization would continue to drive the national economy forward, Yao said.

He believed the most outstanding challenges China faced were an unbalanced economic structure and big inflationary pressure.

He noted the Chinese economy now relied heavily on investment, exports and manufacturing, with agriculture remaining weak and the service sector, which could provide a large amount of jobs, claiming a small share.

Last year, the service sector accounted for only 40.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), much lower than the world average of 70 percent and even lower than the developing nations' 51 percent average.

As for the inflationary pressure, Yao said he was confident about the price movements in China in the second half. The government had put macro economic control, particularly inflation curbs, at the top of its development agenda, and was making numerous measures, including agriculture boosting policies, Yao added.

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