Macro control measures carried out

Beijing: high growth rate turns steady

According to the report by the municipal statistics department about Beijing's economy in the first half of 2004, Beijing registered a gross output of 191.03 billion yuan in the first six months of this year, a 15.4 percent growth over the previous year, the economic growth rate was a 13.3 percent, when the impact exerted by SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) last year on the base figure was deducted. Beijing is maintaining a healthy development in its economy and macro-control has gained initial results as manifested mainly in the following: a high growth rate has turned steady, structure has gradually become balanced, efficiency has continued to improve, and people's living standards have kept rising.

As a series of macro-control measures have been carried out, the growth speed of Beijing's fixed asset investment slowed down in the first six months, down by 5.5 percentage points compared to the first five months and by 14.4 percentage points from the first quarter respectively.

Shanghai: economy in a state of gradual soft landing

During the first half-year, Shanghai's Gross National Product (GNP) reached 343 billion yuan, an estimated 14.8 percent rise year on year, the fastest growth ever since the beginning of the new century. Meanwhile, the rate of price hike of housing and grain in Shanghai has notably slowed down. Signs show that Shanghai's economy is in a state of soft landing.

Since the beginning of 2004, Shanghai has put out a series of control measures. Statistics show that presently, the number of local development zones has been reduced from 176 to 79, and the planned reduction area is 379 square kilometers. In the meantime, the growth rate of the city's loan balance has slowed down, and the scale of newly added loans has shrunk.

Loans newly increased in May amounted to 4.91 billion yuan, the least since the beginning of this year. During the first five months, fixed asset investment in the whole society increased 26.2 percent from the same period last year, 3.4 percentage points and 11.1 percentage points lower than in the first four months and in the first quarter respectively.

By People's Daily Online