Major Macro Economic Statistics

Data and Graphic 

China's 2011 GDP growth slows to 9.2%

China's economy expanded 9.2 percent in 2011 from a year earlier, and 8.9 percent year on year in the fourth quarter of last year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday.

The quarterly growth was the slowest in 10 quarters. China has set the full-year growth target at 8 percent in early 2011, after its economy grew 10.3 percent in 2010. [Full story]

Dec inflation dips to 4.1%

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 4.1 percent year-on-year in December, down 0.1 percentage point from November on falling non-food prices, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.

The CPI was up 5.4 percent in 2011 from the previous year, well above the government's full-year inflation control target of 4 percent, the NBS said in a statement on its website. [Full story]

China's Dec PPI up 1.7%

China's Producer Price Index (PPI), a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 1.7 percent in December year-on-year, further weakening from 2.7 a month earlier.

The reading eased further from November's 2.7-percent growth, the NBS said in a statement on its website. [Full story]

China's industrial value-added output up 13.9%

China's industrial value-added output grew 13.9 percent year-on-year in 2011, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Tuesday.

In December last year, the industrial value-added output was up 12.8 percent from a year earlier, said the NBS. [Full story]

China's fixed-asset investment up 23.8% in 2011

China's fixed-asset investment rose 23.8 percent year-on-year to 30.1933 trillion yuan ($4.7736 trillion) in 2011, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. [Full story]

China's retail sales up 18.1% in Dec

China's retail sales rose 18.1 percent year on year in December 2011, accelerating from the 17.3 percent growth in November, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday.

Retails sales in 2011 increased 17.1 percent year on year, slower than 18.4 percent growth in 2010, the NBS said. [Full story]

China's 2011 FDI up 9.72%

China made actual use of $12.24 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in December, down 12.73 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Commerce said Wednesday.

FDI in China reached $116 billion in 2011, up 9.72 percent year-on-year, the ministry said. [Full story]

China's PMI rebounds to 50.3% in Dec

China's PMI, a preliminary readout of the country's manufacturing activity, rebounded to 50.3 percent in December, indicating a stabler slowing trend for the country's economic growth.

The December Purchasing Managers' Index was up 1.3 percentage points from 49 percent in November, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) said Sunday.

A PMI reading of 50 percent demarcates expansion from contraction. [Full story]

Trade surplus continues declining trend

China's trade surplus narrowed further for the third consecutive year in 2011 to below $160 billion, while exports declined due to the European debt crisis and the sluggish US economy.

Global demand for made-in-China goods will continue to be weak in the coming year, especially with eurozone uncertainty creating "downside" risks for the economy, economists warned. [Full story]

China's new loans continue to rise in Dec

A total of 640.5 billion yuan in loans were lent out in China in December, an amount higher than expected, while M2, a broad measure of money supply, rose by 13.6 percent. [Full story]

China's fiscal revenue up 24.8% in 2011

BEIJING - China's Ministry of Finance said on Friday that the nation's fiscal revenue grew 24.8 percent year-on-year to hit a record high of 10.37 trillion yuan ($1.64 trillion) in 2011.

Of the total, the central fiscal revenue reached 5.13 trillion yuan, up 20.8 percent from the previous year, while local governments collected 5.24 trillion yuan, up 29.1 percent, the ministry said in a statement on its website. [Full story]

Comments & Opinion 

Expanding consumption

The country will try to increase the number of middle-income earners in the year ahead, the Chinese authorities vowed at the just-concluded Central Economic Work Conference, an annual conference, which sets the tone for the following year's economic development.

Making such a commitment is timely given that the cultivation and expansion of the country's middle class will play a key role in promoting the steady development of the national economy. With the debt crisis in some eurozone countries and the United States posing an unprecedented challenge to the world economy, China needs to change its current income distribution pattern and expand its middle class as a way of boosting long-sluggish domestic demand. [Full stroy]

Stable, sustainable growth

The message from the Central Economic Work Conference, which concluded on Wednesday, was that maintaining stable growth will be China's macro-economic policy for the coming year.

This is a sensible choice given the international and domestic situations.

Internationally, the eurozone sovereign debt crisis has worsened and the US economic recovery remains weak, while domestically rising production costs are compromising the traditional competitive advantages of Chinese exports. It is thus unrealistic for China to continue relying on exports, whose growth has become much slower and will further weaken in the coming year. [Full story]

Cautious policy needed

Policymakers charting China's monetary and fiscal policies for 2012 at the Central Economic Work Conference, which starts on Monday, should not ignore the strong headwinds blowing both inside and outside the country.

They must be prepared for a weakening domestic economy and volatile external environment, especially in Europe, which is China's largest trade partner. [Full story]