The Guardian 22 February, 2006
China’s economy surges ahead
China’s National Development and Reform Commission has announced the results of China’s 10th Five Year Plan which ended with the close of 2005.
Between 2001 and 2005 the government solved the employment problem for 43.68 million urban residents and enabled 40 million workers to move from the rural areas to work in the cities says the report. This brought China’s unemployment rate below five percent. At the same time, yearly per capita incomes rose 9.7 percent for urban workers and five percent for rural residents.
National financial income went up from US$166 billion to US$372 billion. China’s total foreign trade reached US$1.4 trillion, nearly twice as much as that of the year 2000.
The Australian Financial Review reports that China is set to become the country with the largest financial reserves overtaking Japan. China’s foreign reserves are expected to top US$1 trillion this year. At the end of 2005 they stood at US$818.9 billion, while Japan’s reserves amounted to US$846.9 million.
Trade between Russia and China has also taken a big leap. Some years ago the target was set at US$20 billion but it reached $US29 billion in the past year.
Total overseas investment utilised by China during the five years of the plan amounted to about US$270 billion.
The UN report, World Economic Situation and Prospects 2006, says that China and India have the "highest-growth" economies.
The economies of developing world countries are projected by the UN to grow by slightly more than 5.5 percent compared to a world average of just over three per cent. This is partly due to the high prices of commodities.
It is these dramatic figures that are causing concern in the capital cities of the industrialised countries. China is likely to overtake the United States and become the strongest industrialised country in the world in the foreseeable future.