Beijing witnesses 10.4% economic growth in first 6 months

At the 21st meeting of the 12th Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People's Congress convened on July 21, 2005, Di Xiangyang, director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform delivered the Report on the Progress of National Economic & Social Development Plan 2005 in Beijing on behalf of the Beijing municipal government. It is said that Beijing has carried out eight priority works to ensure the smooth implementation of national economy and social development plan in the first half this year.

By the end of June this year, the gross regional product in Beijing stood at 227.45 billion yuan, up 10.4 percent or 1.4 percentage points higher than the original estimation; urban per capita disposal income reached 8,845 yuan, up 12.9 percent and recording a actual increase of 11 percent if price factors were taken into consideration; rural per capita cash income achieved 4,606.7 yuan, up 12.2 percent; the balance of resident RMB savings in various financial institutions witnessed an increase of 58.76 billion yuan over that in the beginning 2005, up 85.2 percent. In general, the economic and social development in Beijing has maintained smooth progress and good momentum. However, there are still four problems that require early attention, namely, the severe shortage of coal, power, oil and gas, the quick consumption growth of oil products, the benefit downslide in industrial enterprises as well as the sustained credit shrinking.

According to statistics, consumption of electricity and coal in the first six months this year increased by 13.2 percent, and the tight supply and demand relations of coal still existed. The unexpected heat wave caused by climatic factors has made the electricity consumption peak arrive earlier. The power load stood above 9 million kw for several days with the maximum load going beyond 10.58 million kw, six percent or 9.43 million kw more than the peak value last year, posing a stern challenge to the grid safety.

The sales of gasoline and diesel oil in Beijing recorded a year-on-year increase of 10.1 percent in Beijing, with the price of oil keeping soaring. The issues such as heavy supply-and-demand pressure and seasonal problems of natural gas are still yet to be solved.

Statistics show from January to May this year, the composite profits index of municipal-level industrial enterprises stood at 159.3 percent, a year-on-year decrease of 1.5 percentage points, with the total profits falling 10 percent from the same period last year.

It is said that the sustained credit shrinking in Beijing restrains the steady growth of effective demand. At the end of June, the balance of RMB loans stood at 1,313.65 billion yuan, increasing by 11.9 percent on the comparable line. It increased by 53.63 billion yuan over that at the beginning this year, and decreased by 24.5 percent year on year.

By People's Daily Online