Official says Chinese economy stable, but problems exist

China's economy is stable, but some major problems concerning system reform and economic growth have not been resolved, said Zhu Zhixin, vice-minister of the State Development and Reform Commission, Wednesday in Beijing.

He made the remark at a session of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Business Advisory Council (ABAC).

In the first quarter of this year, China's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 9.5 percent year-on-year. The retail volume of consumer goods rose 13.7 percent, with consumer price index up 2.8 percent, Zhu said.

"China's foreign trade volume during the period stood at 295.2 billion US dollars, rising 23.1 percent, with trade surplus of 16. 6 billion US dollars," he said.

The in-use foreign investment in the country in the period totaled 13.4 billion US dollars, up 9.5 percent year on year. Urban disposable income per capita grew 8.6 percent and rural cash income per capita was up 11.9 percent, he said.

"Yet it is difficult to further increase grain production and farmers' income, and the fixed asset investment may become overheated again," he said.

Problems including the unreasonable economic structure and wasteful economic growth have not been fully resolved, he said.

"The primary task of economic work is still to maintain the stable and fast economic growth and prevent sudden ups and downs," he said.

Founded in 1996, the ABAC is an organization of APEC that stands for the business community. ABAC gives recommendations for creating a more favorable environment for the business community and submits annual reports to the leaders of the APEC member economies.

Source: Xinhua