Short facts about the economy in China
| Economy -
overview: |
In late 1978 the Chinese leadership
began moving the economy from a sluggish Soviet-style centrally planned economy
to a more market-oriented system. Whereas the system operates within a political
framework of strict Communist control, the economic influence of non-state
managers and enterprises has been steadily increasing. 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
2000, with its 1.26 billion people but a GDP of just $3,600 per capita, China
stood as the second largest economy in the world after the US (measured on a
purchasing power parity basis). 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 and lassitude) and
of capitalism (windfall gains and stepped-up inflation). Beijing thus has
periodically backtracked, retightening central controls at intervals. The
government has 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 many of which had been shielded from
competition by subsides and had been losing the ability to pay full wages and
pensions. From 80 to 120 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. Weakness in the global economy in 2001 could hamper growth in
exports. Beijing will intensify efforts to stimulate growth through spending on
infrastructure--such as water control and power grids--and poverty relief and
through rural tax reform aimed at eliminating arbitrary local levies on
farmers. |
| GDP: |
purchasing power parity - $4.5 trillion
(2000 est.) |
| GDP - real
growth rate: |
8% (2000
est.) |
| GDP - per
capita: |
purchasing power parity - $3,600 (2000
est.) |
| GDP -
composition by sector: |
agriculture: 15%
industry: 50%
services: 35% (2000
est.) |
| Population
below poverty line: |
10% (1999
est.) |
| Household
income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 30.4%
(1998) |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices): |
0.4% (2000
est.) |
| Labor
force: |
700 million (1998
est.) |
| Labor force
- by occupation: |
agriculture 50%, industry 24%, services
26% (1998) |
| Unemployment
rate: |
urban unemployment roughly 10%;
substantial unemployment and underemployment in rural areas (2000
est.) |
| Budget: |
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of
$NA |
| Industries: |
iron and steel, coal, machine building,
armaments, textiles and apparel, petroleum, cement, chemical fertilizers,
footwear, toys, food processing, automobiles, consumer electronics,
telecommunications |
| Industrial
production growth rate: |
10% (2000
est.) |
| Electricity
- production: |
1.173 trillion kWh
(1999) |
| Electricity
- production by source: |
fossil fuel: 79.82%
hydro: 18.98%
nuclear:
1.2%
other: 0.01% (1999) |
| Electricity
- consumption: |
1.084 trillion kWh
(1999) |
| Electricity
- exports: |
7.2 billion kWh
(1999) |
| Electricity
- imports: |
90 million kWh
(1999) |
| Agriculture
- products: |
rice, wheat, potatoes, sorghum,
peanuts, tea, millet, barley, cotton, oilseed; pork;
fish |
| Exports: |
$232 billion (f.o.b.,
2000) |
| Exports -
commodities: |
machinery and equipment; textiles and
clothing, footwear, toys and sporting goods; mineral
fuels |
| Exports -
partners: |
US 21%, Hong Kong 18%, Japan 17%, South
Korea, Germany, Netherlands, UK, Singapore, Taiwan
(2000) |
| Imports: |
$197 billion (f.o.b.,
2000) |
| Imports -
commodities: |
machinery and equipment, mineral fuels,
plastics, iron and steel, chemicals |
| Imports -
partners: |
Japan 18%, Taiwan 11%, US 10%, South
Korea 10%, Germany, Hong Kong, Russia, Malaysia
(2000) |
| Debt -
external: |
$162 billion (2000
est.) |
| Economic aid
- recipient: |
$NA |
| Exchange
rates: |
yuan per US dollar - 8.2776 (January
2001), 8.2785 (2000), 8.2783 (1999), 8.2790 (1998), 8.2898 (1997), 8.3142
(1996)
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 |
| Fiscal
year: |
calendar year | Source: World Factbook |
