【正确答案】China's economic development has entered a new stage which is characteristically one of high growth and low inflation. The national economy continues to grow rapidly and market prices remain basically stable. Statistics for the last year show that China's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 7,477.2 billion yuan (US$900.87 billion), an increase of 8.8 percent over the previous year, among which primary industry grew by 3.5%, secondary industry 10.8%, and tertiary industry 8.2%. The margin of price rise continued to fall. Retail prices rose by 0.8 percent, representing a drop of 5.3 percentage points compared to the year before, and consumer prices rose by 2.8 percent, 5.5 percentage points less than that of the previous year. Progress has been made in shifting the mode of economic growth. Economic efficiency improved, with the energy consumed for each 10,000 yuan of GDP decreasing by 5.2 percent compared to the level of the year before.
Agriculture was further strengthened. Despite droughts in a large part of north China, grain output reached 492.5 million tons. The state grain reserves hit a record high. Cotton output was 4.3 million tons. The total output of meat came to 53.54 million tons and aquatic products to 35.61 million tons. Animal husbandry and aquaculture have become significant points for rural economic growth and a major source of the increase in farmers' income. The added value of township enterprises reached 1,800 billion yuan (US$216.87 billion).
Basic industries and infrastructure continued to develop. National primary energy production reached 1.34 billion tons of standard coal. Power-generating capacity increased by 13.78 million kw, and the power supply basically met production needs and household use. Newly built railways open to traffic totaled 896 kin, electrified railways, 1,916 km, and double-track railways, 551 km. A total of 35,000 km of new roads were added, including 1,313 km of expressways. The passenger transport of highways was 511.8 billion passenger-km. The post and telecommunications sector registered the most rapid development in the infrastrul ture field. The total length of long-distance optical cable installed increased by 27,000 sheath km, that of digital micro-wave links by 14,400 km, and the number of telephone lines by 19.61 million. The mobile telephone network in China, having 13.23 million subscribers, has become one of the largest in the world in terms of its coverage.
The country's financial revenue (excluding liability revenue) totaled 864.2 billion yuan (US$ 104.12 billion), up by 16.7 percent on the previous year, and financial expenditure (excluding liability expenditure) reached 919.7 billion yuan (US$110.8 billion), up 15.9 percent, with the latter exceeding the former by 55.5 billion yuan (US$6.69 billion). The deficit of the state treasure stood at 56 billion yuan (US$6.75 billion), which was within the budgeted goal. The state treasury's liability revenue was 247.7 billion yuan (US$29.84 billion), fulfilling the budgeted goal by 99.6 percent. Currency supply increased by 17.3 percent. A total of 137.6 billion yuan (US$16.58 billion), was issued throughout the year, exceeding the controlled plan by 17.6 billion yuan (US$2.12 billion). The total savings deposits in all financial institutions increased by 1,294 billion yuan (US$155.9 billion), a rise of 18.6 percent over the previous year, and loans rose by 1,070.3 billion yuan (US$128.95 billion), up 16.7 percent. The interest rate on loans was lowered in due course, helping reduce the burden on enterprises. China's foreign exchange reserve reached US$139.9 billion at the end of last year, a record high and an increase of US$34.9 billion over the figure at the beginning of the year.
Fairly rapid growth was registered in foreign trade, and foreign capital utilization improved in quality. Last year, China rose as the world's 10th largest country in foreign trade. Imports and exports totaled US$325.1 billion, an increase of 12.1 percent over the previous year, with a trade surplus of US$40.3 billion, including A total of US$45.3 billion of foreign investment and US$12 billion of foreign loans, and US$6.7 billion gained through issuing stocks overseas. China invested US$1.83 billion abroad, playing a certain role in making up for the shortage of domestic resources and in promoting export.
The people's living standards continued to improve. Retail sales of consumer goods in the country totaled 2,684 billion yuan (US$323.4 billion), representing an actual increase of 10.2 percent. The per-capita disposable income of city dwellers rose by 3.4 percent, and the per-capita net income of rural residents by 4.6 percent. Last year, 7 million people in cities and towns found their first jobs, and 2.45 million laid-off workers were re-employed, and the registered unemployment rate in cities and towns was 3.1 percent. The natural population growth rate was 10.06 per thousand.