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ECONOMY
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CHINA
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Partners
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Economy
- Overview:
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Beginning
in late 1978 the Chinese leadership has been moving the economy
from a sluggish Soviet-style centrally planned economy to a more
market-oriented economy but still within a rigid political framework
of Communist Party control. To this end the authorities have switched
to a system of household responsibility in agriculture in place
of the old collectivization, increased the authority of local
officials and plant managers in industry, permitted a wide variety
of small-scale enterprise in services and light manufacturing,
and opened the economy to increased foreign trade and investment.
The result has been a quadrupling of GDP since 1978. In 1999,
with its 1.25 billion people but a GDP of just $3,800 per capita,
China became the second largest economy in the world after the
US. Agricultural output doubled in the 1980s, and industry also
posted major gains, especially in coastal areas near Hong Kong
and opposite Taiwan, where foreign investment helped spur output
of both domestic and export goods. On the darker side, the leadership
has often experienced in its hybrid system the worst results of
socialism (bureaucracy, lassitude, corruption) and of capitalism
(windfall gains and stepped-up inflation). Beijing thus has periodically
backtracked, retightening central controls at intervals. In late
1993 China's leadership approved additional long-term reforms
aimed at giving still more play to market-oriented institutions
and at strengthening the center's control over the financial system;
state enterprises would continue to dominate many key industries
in what was now termed "a socialist market economy". In 1995-99
inflation dropped sharply, reflecting tighter monetary policies
and stronger measures to control food prices. At the same time,
the government struggled to (a) collect revenues due from provinces,
businesses, and individuals; (b) reduce corruption and other economic
crimes; and (c) keep afloat the large state-owned enterprises,
most of which had not participated in the vigorous expansion of
the economy and many of which had been losing the ability to pay
full wages and pensions. From 50 to 100 million surplus rural
workers are adrift between the villages and the cities, many subsisting
through part-time low-paying jobs. Popular resistance, changes
in central policy, and loss of authority by rural cadres have
weakened China's population control program, which is essential
to maintaining growth in living standards. Another long-term threat
to continued rapid economic growth is the deterioration in the
environment, notably air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady
fall of the water table especially in the north. China continues
to lose arable land because of erosion and economic development.
The next few years will witness increasing tensions between a
highly centralized political system and an increasingly decentralized
economic system. |
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GDP:
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purchasing
power parity - $4.8 trillion (1999 est.) |
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GDP
- Real Growth Rate:
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7%
(1999 est.) |
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GDP
- Per Capita:
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purchasing
power parity - $3,800 (1999 est.) |
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GDP
- Composition by Sector:
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agriculture:
15%
industry: 35%
services: 50% (1999 est.) |
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Population
Below Poverty Level:
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10%
(1999 est.) |
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Household
Income or Consumption by Percentage Share:
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lowest
10%: 2.2%
highest 10%: 30.9% (1995) |
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Inflation
Rate :
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-1.3%
(1999 est |
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Labor
Force :
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700
million (1998 est.) |
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Labor
Force - by Occupation:
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agriculture
50%, industry 24%, services 26% (1998) |
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Unemployment
Rate:
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urban unemployment roughly 10%; substantial unemployment and underemployment
in rural areas (1999 est.) |
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Budget:
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revenues:
$NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA |
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Industries:
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iron and steel, coal, machine building, armaments, textiles and
apparel, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers, footwear, toys,
food processing, automobiles, consumer electronics, telecommunications
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Industrial
Production Growth Rate:
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8.8% (1999 est.) |
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Electricity
- Production:
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1.16 trillion kWh (1998) |
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Electricity
- Production by Source:
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fossil
fuel: 80.31%
hydro: 18.46%
nuclear: 1.23% |
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Electricity
- Consumption:
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1.014
trillion kWh (1998) |
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Electricity
- Exports:
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7.935
billion kWh (1998) |
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Electricity
- Imports:
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89
million kWh (1998) |
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Agriculture
- Products:
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rice, wheat, potatoes, sorghum, peanuts, tea, millet, barley,
cotton, oilseed; pork; fish |
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Exports:
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$194.9
billion (f.o.b., 1999) |
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Exports
- Commodities:
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machinery
and equipment; textiles and clothing, footwear, toys and sporting
goods; mineral fuels, chemicals |
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Exports
- Partners:
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US
22%, Hong Kong 19%, Japan 17%, Germany, South Korea, Netherlands,
UK, Singapore, Taiwan (1999) |
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Imports:
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$165.8 billion (c.i.f., 1999) |
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Imports
-Commodities:
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machinery and equipment, plastics, chemicals, iron and steel,
mineral fuels |
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Imports
- Partners:
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Japan
20%, US 12%, Taiwan 12%, South Korea 10%, Germany, Hong Kong,
Russia, Singapore (1999) |
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Debt
- External:
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$159
billion (1998 est.) |
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Economic
Aid - Recipient:
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$NA
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Currency:
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1
yuan = 10 jiao |
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Exchange
Rates :
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yuan
per US$1 - 8.2793 (January 2000), 8.2783 (1999), 8.2790 (1998),
8.2898 (1997), 8.3142 (1996), 8.3514 (1995) note: beginning 1
January 1994, the People's Bank of China quotes the midpoint rate
against the US dollar based on the previous day's prevailing rate
in the interbank foreign exchange market |
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Fiscal
Year :
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calendar
year |
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